Bangladesh ex-ministers remanded

Three high-profile Bangladeshi politicians, including two ex-ministers, have been remanded for four days while five others, charged with corruption, have been sent to jail.
Whereabouts of three out of 11 politicians and businessmen, arrested in a two-day countrywide raid by the army-led joint forces, were not known till Tuesday night.
Authorities charged the politicians with corruption and activities subversive to the state, suggesting orders for remand and detention.
A metropolitan court in Dhaka in the evening issued orders for remand of Awami League general secretary and a former Commerce Minister Abdul Jalil, former State Minister for Home Lutfozzaman Babar and ex-lawmaker MA Hashem.
Police pleaded that these politicians need more interrogation into their alleged involvement in corruption and plans to destabilise the country.
Earlier, former Home Minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, ex-State Minister For Power Rafiqul Islam and the ex-State Minister For Sports Fazlur Rahman Patol, the Sylhet City Corporation Mayor Badruddin Ahmed Kamran and a collective bargain agency leader, Molla Abul Kalam Azad, were sent to jail with 30-day detention.
The joint forces also detained senior AL leader and former Health Minister Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Barisal city corporation mayor Mojibur Rahman Sarwar and businessman Abdul Awal Mintoo, but their whereabouts could not be ascertained.
The forces launched a massive raid across the country on Monday afternoon, which continued till Tuesday morning and detained the political and business bigwigs.
This was the third such anti-corruption drive since the interim government of Fakhruddin Ahmed assumed to office in January 12, following proclamation of a state of emergency, vowing to rid the country of corruption and parties of evil influences.
In February and March, the forces arrested more than 50 senior political leaders and businessmen having political links with Awami League and BNP.
In their submission separately while producing the political leaders before the court, police said that Jalil was trying to destabilise the country while Babar amassed huge money illegally while he was a minister during the previous BNP-led alliance regime.
'Babar was involved in activities subversive to the state and needed to be interrogated to extract information in this regard,' a police inspector told the court, adding that the lawmen recovered four firearms, none having license.
Hashem was identified as dishonest businessman who made money out corruption as an influential lawmaker of the BNP during the previous government tenure.
Police said they were arrested under the emergency power rule and proposed for their detention under the Special Powers Act.
On Monday, the forces detained Abdul Jalil, Lutfozzaman Babar MA Hashem from their offices and residences.
Bangladesh's former Prime Minister and chief of the Awami League party, Sheikh Hasina, in a statement condemned arrest of her party leaders asking the government not to arrest the innocent politicians, but to capture the corrupt ones.
She warned that the 'emergency period has been over,' and the government should be very calculative in its steps. Hasina accused the government of diverting public attention from its failure by terrorising the people through these arrests.
She called upon the government to announce immediately timeframe for the stalled election to bring democracy back in Bangladesh.
The government justified the arrest, saying some of them were arrested based on specific allegations.
Asked on what charges the politicians were arrested, the law adviser, Mainul Hosein, told reporters earlier in the day that all were not being arrested on corruption charge rather many were being held to information regarding corruption.
'I know a little about it,' he added.
No BNP leaders came up with any statement.