Another ex-minister held in B'desh anti-graft drive

DHAKA, Feb 6 (Reuters) Joint security forces led by the Bangladesh army have detained another former minister as they pressed a hunt for corrupt politicians ahead of national elections, police today said.

Tariqul Islam, forests and environment minister in the government of former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, was taken at his home late yesterday in the western district of Jessore.

A local court, where Tariqul was produced today, remanded him to custody for a month.

The arrest came after security forces arrested 20 ex-ministers and senior politicians from the two main parties, Khaleda's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the rival Awami League, led by another former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.

A Dhaka court yesterday ordered all but one of them held for 30 days in jail under the country's Special Powers Act (SPA) after rejecting their bail applications.

Khaleda's political secretary, Musaddek Ali, a former lawmaker and a media tycoon, was still being questioned by the joint forces, officials today said.

Under the SPA, anyone can be detained for a month while police frame possible charges against them.

All those jailed were likely to face charges of corruption, involvement in anti-state and anti-people activities, and misuse of power to amass wealth, police said.

The anti-graft drive is being conducted by police, the elite Rapid Action Battalion and the army.

It was ordered by a caretaker government, headed by former central bank chief Fakhruddin Ahmed, who has vowed to crack down on corrupt politicians as part of a campaign to hold free and fair elections in the impoverished nation of 140 million people.

The government also asked the head of the Anti-Corruption Commission and other officials to resign, paving the way for its reconstitution.

Political parties and civil society have long been demanding reforms in the commission, saying it had failed to fight widespread graft.

''We will tender resignations tomorrow (Wednesday),'' said commission chief Sultan Hossain Khan, a retired judge, after meeting President Iajuddin Ahmed ANTI-GRAFT CONVENTION The government also decided to ratify the United Nations Convention Against Corruption in an effort to bring the country up to international governance standards, Foreign Ministry officials said.

Bangladesh declared a state of emergency on January 11. An election planned for January 22 was postponed after 45 people were killed and hundreds injured in countrywide violence.

The interim authority is strongly backed by the powerful armed forces.

Analysts said the armed forces preferred a behind-the-scenes role, rather than direct intervention, to help Bangladesh out of its confrontational political climate.

Bangladesh was ruled by a former army general, Hossain Mohammad Ershad, from March 1982 when he seized power in a bloodless coup until he was toppled in a people's uprising headed by Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda in December 1990.

Yesterday the government appointed former top bureaucrats ATM Shamsul Huda and Sohul Hossain as chief election commissioner and his deputy, respectively.

They have been told to start work immediately on overhauling the list of registered voters to expunge fake entries, arrange transparent balloting procedures to avoid rigging and announce a new election schedule.

REUTERS SY BD1456