The government has decided to send new gold crests to the foreign friends, who played vital roles during the 1971 Liberation War, “with a view to reviving the country’s image.”
Supreme Court lawyer Manzill Murshid, who sent a legal notice to the Liberation War Affairs Ministry demanding new crests be sent to the foreign friends, received a letter on Monday from the ministry.
He told the Dhaka Tribune: “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 foreign embassies after getting the probe report.”
He said the letter signed by Assistant Secretary Md Rafiqul Islam mentioned that the money of the new crests would be realised from the contracting company, which was allegedly involved in the scam.
Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mojammel Haque, however, denied the matter, saying he had no idea about the letter.
He said: “The ministry is yet to make any decision in this regard.”
Manzill Murshid filed a writ petition with the High Court on May 21 as he did not receive any response from the government regarding the legal notice within three days.
On Monday, the High Court bench 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 had taken the matter seriously and already launched a probe.
The government honoured 338 foreign individuals and organisations from 2011 to 2013 for their contributions to the country’s liberation. Each honouree was given a crest, which was supposed to be made of 1 tola (11.66g) of gold and 30 tolas (350g) of silver.
A test conducted by the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution found that there was only about 2.2g of gold and 35g of brass and copper in each crest.