DHAKA, Jan 5: The parliamentary standing committee of the Ministry of Defence at a meeting on Monday suggested that the government should strongly pursue the already pending MiG-29 and frigate purchase scam cases to avoid recurrence of alleged corruption in the armed forces.
The meeting, presided over by Lt. Gen (retd.) Mahbubur Rahman MP, asked the quarters concerned to provide adequate information to the public prosecutors appointed to deal with the cases, in which Awami League president and former premier Sheikh Hasina and her top aides are named "It is a shame for a nation if there is any corruption in the process of defence purchases. We want the corrupt people to be punished for the sake of the dignity of the forces," the chairman told newsmen after the meeting.
The members of opposition AL were not present at the parliamentary committee meeting. The previous government of Awami League procured eight MiG-29 fighter planes for the Bangladesh Air Force and a frigate for the Navy at a cost of nearly $229 million to equip the forces with modern fighting equipment.
