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Abul a patriot

PM says he had the courage to quit

Star Report
Lauding former communications minister Syed Abul Hossain, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said he was a patriot and had stepped down voluntarily to pave the way for construction of the long-cherished Padma bridge.
Talking to journalists in London, Hasina also said Abul had shown courage by resigning even though the World Bank could not provide any “concrete evidence of his involvement in corruption”.
“He has guts, he has patriotism ... that's why he could resign,” UNB quoted the premier as telling journalists of UK-based Bangla newspapers.
“How many people in the past have shown such courage by tendering resignation over fictitious allegations? You should appreciate this,” she added.
The prime minister is now in London on a five-day official visit to attend the inaugural ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games.
Meanwhile in Dhaka, the Cabinet Division was yet to issue any notification on Abul Hossain's resignation as ICT minister on July 23. FROM PAGE 1
Moreover, the official websites of the Cabinet Division and the ICT ministry are still showing Abul as a minister.
Asked about it, a senior official in the Cabinet Division told The Daily Star yesterday: "We did not get the copy of his resignation. Therefore, we did not issue any notification and update our website."
The Cabinet Division’s delay in issuing the notification has raised speculation as to whether Abul will be made a minister without portfolio, as was done in the case of former railway minister Suranjit Sengupta.
Contacted, Kamal Uddin Ahmed, additional secretary of the ICT ministry, yesterday said the ministry officials could not manage time to update the website, as they were busy with some other work. "It is not possible to update the website everyday," he said.
Meanwhile, Abul's resignation letter was yet to reach Bangabhaban, the President's Secretary, M Shafiul Alam, said yesterday.
The letter is supposed to be sent to the Cabinet Division from the Prime Minister's Office, following which the Cabinet Division will prepare a summary and send it back to the PMO.
After that, the PMO will forward it to the president, and from Bangabhaban, it will go back to the Cabinet
Division. And on receiving it, the Cabinet Division will issue the notification.
Since the Cabinet Division was yet to receive a copy of the resignation letter, it means that the resignation letter was still with the PMO.
On July 23, Abul resigned, a day after Finance Minister AMA Muhith said that the government was considering accepting the WB's fourth condition to persuade the global lender into reviewing the cancellation of its fund for the Padma bridge project.
Muhith on July 24 said, “A few government officials have already been asked to go on leave. Gazette notifications on this will be published in a day or two.” He, however, termed Abul's stepping down “an unusual step”.
Claiming his innocence in an open letter to the country, published in different dailies on July 21, Abul hinted about the resignation “in the interest of the country”.
His resignation is likely to end the 10-month-long impasse between the government and the WB following the global lender's corruption allegations in the $2.97 billion project. The WB in September last year suspended its promised $1.2 billion funding for the country's biggest infrastructure project which will substantially contribute to
the country's economy.
This is for the second time Abul has resigned as a minister. In August 1997, he had been forced to resign as the LGRD state minister following a controversy over using his private passport instead of a diplomatic one.
Though there has been strong public opinion against him for the last few months, Abul has refuted the allegations of any irregularities in the Padma bridge project and kept saying he had been innocent throughout his career.
He accused a section of the media of resorting to propaganda against him, saying it had misled the WB into cancelling the project's funding.
The former communications minister first came under fire ahead of last year's Eid-ul-Fitr for failing to repair roads and highways in many parts of the country.
Earlier, Abul had been termed "a less than honest" man in his business deal-ings by former US Ambassador in Dhaka James F Moriarty, according to diplomatic cables revealed by WikiLeaks on August 30,2011.
Abul was removed from the communications ministry and given charge of the ICT ministry on December 5 last year after the WB brought corruption allegations against him and suspended its loan.