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PMO staff mint money from puffed up photo, documentary budget

STAR REPORT
Excessive use of photo materials and an inflated budget to make a documentary film by two staff at the prime minister's press wing have created a rancour at the information ministry.
High officials concerned at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the ministry raised objection as the two staff have been misappropriating government funds in the name of serving the prime minister, sources said.
There are allegations that these two have been making quick money since the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) came to office in October 2001.
Highly placed sources said one of the two personal photographers of the prime minister is taking unrestrained facilities from the Press Information Department (PID) of the ministry.
They said the photographer, who also was attached with the PM during the past BNP regime, take on average 100 prints a day of photographs related to the PM's day-to-day affairs.
According to an official estimate, citing official reason the photographer received some 22,033 copies of different sizes of photographs from the PID
in eight months from June 2002 to January 2003. Besides, he took hundreds of photo films during the same period.
Officials at the PID said the number of photo films and prints used by the photographer is the highest since independence.
The matter has been brought to the notice of the information minister and other concerned top officials at the PMO who have been surprised. Meanwhile, the PID has sought additional budget to supply films and photos.
The photographer termed the allegations against him as "conspiracy". "One cannot such huge prints of photographs," he said.
"I am not the only photographer attached to the PM. There is another one," he added.
Moreover, the photographer keeps most of the negatives, particularly those having commercial values at his home, although he is to deposit the used films and extra photos at the PID storeroom.
Information Ministry sources said they even could not get photos of the head of the government timely during
publication of special supplements as the photographer did not submit important films to the PID.
They said the photographer did not submit a photo of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia with Pakistani President Parvez Musharraf in time to be used for publication of a special supplement in a Pakistani newspaper.
"Negatives of all important photographs of the prime minister are still with the photographer," said a senior official at the information ministry.
PMO sources said that they received a good number of complaints from different private organisations, and even from several ministers and MPs that sometime they have to pay the photographer Tk 20,000 to Tk 50,000 for a copy of their photo with the prime minister.
The other staff, an assistant press secretary to the PM, allegedly plundered a huge amount of money in the name of making a CD documentary. He likes to introduce himself as spokesman of the Hawa Bhaban instead of his official position, sources said.
Sources said the APS made a
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proposal to make a documentary to counter opposition Awami League's convention on human rights and reported repression on the Hindu minorities immediately after the general election. The information ministry approved the proposal at an estimated cost of around Tk 8 lakh.
The CD of the documentary was to be distributed among foreign diplomatic missions in Dhaka and Bangladesh missions abroad.
Before approving, the information ministry argued that such documentary is usually prepares by the Department of Films and Publications (DFP) as it has all the logistics and can be made with minimum cost. Moreover, such document cannot be made privately considering legal complexity.
But the APS got the job at the instruction of the government high-ups and the CD he made was substandard as it was riddled with spelling and grammatical errors, sources added.
DFP sources said the APS prepared the documentary with the footage of the DFP, BTV and now defunct ETV free of charge and did not take any new
footage.
They estimated that the APS spent no more than Tk 2 lakh for the documentary and made 1,000 CD copies.
Sources at the PMO said there are three APS at the PMO and all of them are entitled to use a single vehicle for their official duty. But the said APS has been using a huge and expensive Isuzu Trooper jeep of the Bangladesh Gas Field, which was brought on requisition.
The vehicle was allotted for the managing director of the Bangladesh Gas Field and he could use it for a short time. The driver of the ex-chairman of Petrobangla has been appointed as the driver of the APS.