Govt yet to decide over new crest

The government is yet to take decision whether it would send new gold crests to the foreign friends, who played vital roles during the 1971 Liberation War, says a letter issued by the Liberation War Affairs Ministry.

The letter has been issued to Manzil Morshed on Thursday afternoon, three days after the ministry issued another letter saying that the government would distribute new gold crests to the foreign friends, who played vital roles during the 1971 Liberation War, “with a view to revive the country’s image.”

The new letter stated that the government was yet to take any decision in this regard.  “The ministry is not aurthorised to take such decision,” read the letter.

This letter was also singned by Assistant Secretary Md Rafiqul Islam.

However, Supereme Court Lawyer Manzil Morshed told the Dhaka Tribune that he was yet get any letter. He said: “As I do not get any new letter, I cannot say anything over the issue.”

Earlier on Monday, Manzill Murshid has received another letter in this regard from the Liberation War Affairs Ministry.

The letter, which was issued by the ministry on June 4, said a parliamentary probe body has already investigated the scandal over sham gold crests. The Liberation War Affairs Ministry will take measures to send new crests to the foreign friends through respective foreign embassies after getting the probe report.

It mentioned that the money of the new crests would be realised from the contracting company, which was allegedly involved in the scam.

However, AKM Mojammel Haque, minister of Liberation War Affairs Ministry, denied the matter saying that he has no idea about the letter.

He said: “The ministry is yet to take any decision in this regard.”

Earlier the SC lawyer sent a legal notice to the ministry concerned demanding to send the foreign friends new crests as “the matter involves the image of the country.”

On May 21, he filed a writ petition with the High Court as he did not receive any response from the government within three days.

On Monday, an HC bench comprising of Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Khurshid Alam Sarkar dropped the petition from the case list saying it would not pass any order as the government has taken matter seriously and already launched probe.

From 2011 to 2013, the government honoured 338 foreign individuals and organisations for their contributions to the country’s liberation. Each honoree was given a crest, which was supposed to be made of one bhori (11.66g) of gold and 30 bhori (350g) of silver.

Later, a test conducted by Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution found that there was only about three ana (2.2g) of gold and three bhori (35g) of brass and copper in each crest.