Abul Hossain bows out

He was absent in the Cabinet meeting and left his residence in a car without waving flag in the morning. Updates

Dhaka, July 23 (bdnews24.com)—Former Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain has resigned from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's cabinet, 10 months after charges of corruption in the Padma bridge project surfaced.

The beleaguered Minister, who was later given charge of the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, tendered his resignation letter on Monday, highly placed sources confirmed bdnews24.com.

The resignation is expected to end the10-month-long crisis the government has been facing over perceived corruption that led the World Bank to suspend its promised fund for Bangladesh's biggest infrastructure project.

Abul Hossain was absent in the Cabinet meeting at the Secretariat on Monday. He left his residence in a car without waving flag in the morning, on-duty police constable 'Hasan' said.

One source with the knowledge of the matter said Abul Hossain decided to stand down as an investigation into the allegations was going.

The Minister, however, never admitted that he was involved in any corruption while he was the Communications Minister until Sept last year. But he was transferred from the Ministry of Communications amid growing calls from inside the ruling coalition and the opposition.

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Eventually, the global lending agency cancelled its $ 1.2 billion fund for the $2.9 billion project on Jun 29. It claimed the government did not follow its suggestion to send the officials linked to the alleged corruption and holding powerful position on leave until the investigation was complete.

The government castigated the Washington-based lender for its decision while Abul protested his innocence in the media.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith had said on Sunday, "We had difficulties to accept the fourth point made by the World Bank's Residential Representative (Ellen) Goldstein. We are trying to resolve the problem."

The fourth condition was to send bureaucrats and politically appointed people on leave.

Cabinet Secretary Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told journalists in the afternoon that he had not received any resignation letter until then. Neither did Abul Hossain inform the Cabinet about his absence beforehand, he said.

bdnews24.com could not reach Abul Hossain on his cell phone. He wife would not comment when approached.

Abul was made Communications Minister on Jan 6, 2009, when Hasina formed her Cabinet after assuming power. He was a State Minister in the Cabinet the Awami League had formed during its previous 1996-2001 tenure.

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