DHAKA, 13 October 2007 — Bangladesh’s two major political parties — Awami League (AL) and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) — have dismissed the idea of a unity government. Dr. Badruddoza Chowdhury, chief of Bikalpadhara Bangladesh, had mooted the idea of a national-consensus government at an iftar party earlier this week.

“There is no constitutional crisis and the proposal for such a government before elections is confusing,” BNP chief Khaleda Zia, now in jail, was quoted by her lawyer as saying.

Khaleda said the road map for the elections was there and work on the preparation of the voters’ list was progressing well.

The Awami League also rejected the idea of a national consensus government. “Elections are a must for the formation of a government and lawmakers will decide what kind of a government should be formed,” acting Awami League President Zillur Rahman told reporters in Dhaka.

Badruddoza Chowdhury had proposed the formation of a unity government for a ten-year tenure.

Khaleda Denies Wrongdoing

Khaleda has denied any wrongdoing on the charge of having influenced the awarding of the container-handling contract by her government, saying that she signed, only as a formality, after it was approved by her Cabinet’s purchase committee.

Interrogated in jail by a team of Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) with regard to the contract being given to Global Agro Trade (Pvt) Co. Ltd. (GATCO), the former premier said: “Neither me nor my son had any involvement in the deal.

“Earlier, I did not approve the contract as the committee had decided to send back the dossier to the concerned ministry,” her tax lawyer Ahmed Aazam Khan quoted her as telling the ACC.

Khaleda argued that there was barely any instance of a prime minister rejecting a proposal that has received approval from the purchase committee.

She was arrested on Sept. 2 after the ACC filed a case pertaining to this deal against her and her two sons, Tareque Rahman and Arafat.

“I was not swayed by anyone and neither did I exert any influence on the purchase committee to award the contract to GATCO,” Khaleda said in reply to a query, The Daily Star said yesterday.

“GATCO files were placed before me for approval after they were approved by the purchase committee,” Aazam Khan quoted Khaleda as saying in defense of her action.

She denied that her younger son Arafat tried to influence the process or made recommendations in this regard.

The three-member team of the anti-graft body questioned her for about an hour to know if she had pulled strings in favor of GATCO, sources said.

Earlier, another team had questioned her about the wealth statement to the ACC.

The ACC team met her in the special prison in the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban (Parliament) complex for interrogation. The team comprises investigation officer and Deputy Director Jahirul Huda, taskforce-23 officers Maj. Mostafa Kamal and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Inspector Nurul Islam.

The ACC had recently taken depositions from seven former ministers, all members of the then purchase committee, six retired secretaries and an incumbent additional secretary of the communications ministry in connection with the graft case.