Mijarul Quayes fired as UK envoy

Faced with a barrage of charges of “abuse of power” and “failure to deliver”, Mohamed Mijarul Quayes will have to leave London for a much lesser role as envoy to Brazil.

The former foreign secretary was appointed as High Commissioner to the UK barely two years ago but has since faced questions about his work ethic and financial discipline.

Md Abdul Hannan, the Permanent Representative to the UN Offices in Geneva, is being sent to London, the Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

Ambassador to Brazil M Shameem Ahsan will succeed Hannan as the new PR to the UN offices in Geneva and Vienna.

Ambassador Quayes, who took over in London on Dec 9, 2012, is currently facing several audit objections for ‘misuse of powers and irregularities’, according to a recent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General. The bdnews24.com published excerpts from the report exclusively.

“I am surprised that Ambassador Quayes is not being recalled and made to face an official inquiry,” said a former diplomat familiar with the government procedure.

The CAG’s Office charged his mission with ‘irregularities, mismanagement and lack of transparency’ in spending public money.

Its 2012-13 report says the High Commission did not have a convincing answer to 47 of the 57 audit objections raised by the auditors.

It asked for refund of money spent without ‘due authorisation’.

Quayes is also facing criticism for not doing enough for the government during and after the Jan 5 elections. The Hasina administration faced a wave of criticism from the UK and other Western countries over the balloting.

Sources in the UK say he “failed to perform” in his role as High Commissioner to an important diplomatic mission that London has been for Dhaka. “The government had to rely on non-mission contacts in London to secure major appointments for the Prime Minister,” one source claimed.

Quayes is a recruit of the 1982 batch of BCS foreign service cadre.

He had served as ambassador to the Maldives and Russia. As a junior diplomat, he had worked in Bangladesh missions in Tokyo, Singapore and Geneva.

Hannan, also a career diplomat and Quayes' replacement, has been Bangladesh's Ambassador to Switzerland and Permanent Representative to the UN Offices in Geneva and Vienna. He joined the civil service in 1984.

Hannan studied in economics at Chittagong University and had previously served in Oman, Karachi, Ottawa, Kolkata and Moscow.

Shameem Ahsan, a doctor by training, became a civil servant in 1984 and served in Tehran, Darussalam, New Delhi and Geneva.