The Foreign Ministry has recalled Bangladesh Ambassador to Lebanon AFM Gousal Azam Sarker amid allegations of massive irregularities.
The government has taken the decision when the envoy was summoned by the Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil on July 16 as he detained two Bangladeshi local staff inside the embassy, a charge denied by the envoy.
“We instructed him to come back to Dhaka,” said a senior official of the Foreign Ministry.
Gousal Azam was instructed to hand over to Foreign Ministry Director General Nazrul Islam by today and instructed him to return to the headquarters by July 27, according to a Foreign Ministry order issued on July 17. The Dhaka Tribune saw a copy of the order.
Gousal is the fourth ambassador, who was recalled in recent years.
Earlier, Mujibur Rahman Bhuiyan from Japan, Mazeda Rafiqunnesa from the Philippines and Hasib Aziz from Uzbekistan were recalled for misconduct, misuse of power and corruption charges.
Gousal was posted to Lebanon last September and prior to that, he was the ambassador to Sweden.
When asked about the allegations of irregularities against Gousal, the Foreign Ministry official said: “There are many.”
He, however, declined to elaborate.
Another senior official said maladministration, misuse of power, indecent behaviour with subordinates and other allegations were raised against Gousal.
“An enquiry committee will be formed following his return to Dhaka to investigate the allegations against him,” he said.
Meanwhile, a Lebanese news media named Now, reported quoting a statement of Bassil’s press office that he summoned Gousal is also faced with the allegation that the ambassador had detained a Bangladeshi worker in the embassy.
In the statement, he said: “A number of Bengali citizens had gathered outside the embassy to protest detention.”
Gousal on Wednesday met Bassil and denied the accusation.
A career diplomat, Gousal Azam joined the foreign service in 1989 and served in Hong Kong as Consul General during his long diplomatic career.
