Dhaka’s ex-speaker may be tried for contempt of parliament

October 14th, 2009 DHAKA - The Bangladesh parliament has decided to sue its former speaker and two senior officials for alleged misappropriation of funds. The Jatiya Sangsad (national assembly) passed a unanimous resolution Tuesday to recover Taka 25 million ($389,049) from former speaker Jamiruddin Sircar, his deputy Akhtar Hamid Siddiqui, and former chief whip Khandaker Delwar Hossain.

October 6th, 2009 Expenses scandal forces out Irish parliament chiefDUBLIN — The embattled speaker of Ireland's parliament says he will resign rather than face a no-confidence vote demanded by opposition leaders over his lavish spending on staff and travel. John O'Donoghue says he will step down next week as the neutral moderator of parliament.

September 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar Saturday said she is "having a look at" the request of DMK ministers to answer questions in parliament in Tamil. Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister M.K.

September 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Indian parliament's sittings should be increased to 110 days a year, Speaker Meira Kumar said Saturday. "We should increase the number of sittings (of parliament) to 110 days," the speaker told reporters here, adding that "disruption of the house proceedings is a major concern for everybody".

August 28th, 2009 Moldova's Parliament elects new speakerCHISINAU, Moldova — Moldova's pro-Western coalition government has chosen a new parliament speaker in a vote that was boycotted by the Communist legislators. Last month, the four-party coalition won a narrow victory in a national election in Moldova, a former Soviet republic.

July 8th, 2009 DHAKA - Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has come under fire in parliament for its report claiming that lawmakers waste public money by arriving late or staying away, causing disruptions in the functioning of the house. Criticised by successive governments for its findings on issues of corruption and wastage of public funds, the TIB said in its report, Parliament Watch 2009, that Tk 54.1 million ($900,000) was wasted due to the quorum crisis in the inaugural session of the ninth parliament.

July 2nd, 2009 DHAKA - A former speaker of Bangladesh parliament and two former officials may be asked to return Taka 17.1 million ($285,000) that a parliamentary committee has said were "misappropriated" by them. Former speaker Jamiruddin Sircar, his deputy Akhtar Hamid Siddiqui and chief whip of the Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP) Handaker Delwar Hossain, drew the money as medical allowances and additional fuel allowances "ignoring the law", an all-party parliamentary probe committee has ruled.

June 11th, 2009 LONDON - Indian-origin MP and former minister Parmjit Dhanda has joined the race to become the next speaker of the House of Commons, warning that the British parliament "is in crisis." Dhanda, a 37-year-old clean shaven Sikh, threw his hat in the ring to succeed Michael Martin, who will step down June 21 after a controversial intervention last month in favour of disgraced MPs found to be claiming dubious parliamentary expenses. If successful, he would be the first British Speaker - a centuries-old office - from an ethnic minority brackground.

May 22nd, 2009 KATHMANDU - The advisory committee on parliamentary procedures has decided to hold the election for new Prime Minister on Saturday. During a meeting on Thursday, the committee has also handed over the authority to Speaker Subas Nemwang to decide the issue of Maoist's resolution against the President's decision to block the government decision to sack the army chief.

May 21st, 2009 KATHMANDU - Normal business of the legislature parliament that has been obstructed for over two weeks after Prime Minister Prachanda resignation is likely to resume today. The parliament will resume with an informal understanding between Prachanda and the Speaker of the legislature parliament Subash Chandra Nemwang.

May 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - A contempt of court petition was filed against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Friday for his reported comments on the Supreme Court order of a probe into his role during the communal violence of 2002. Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, acting as amicus curiae in cases relating to the Gujarat violence before the Supreme Court, filed the plea seeking contempt of court proceeding against the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) leader.

April 23rd, 2009 KUALA LUMPUR - The Malay Indian Member of Parliament from Puchong, Gobind Singh Deo, has filed a suit against the Dewan Rakyat Speaker, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Aziz, the Dewan Rakyat secretary and the Government of Malaysia for his suspension from the House for a year, including losing his remunerations, was null and void. Karpal Singh and Co represented him in the suit, reports The Star.

March 22nd, 2009 DHAKA - The former deputy speaker of the Bangladesh parliament, Akhter Hamid Siddiqui, has been detained for 30 days for allegedly making a 'seditious remark'. During an outburst at a police station, Siddiqui is alleged to have told an officer that the present Awami League-led government would be 'ousted' in two months and that 'thousands of people would die' during the period, according to United News of Bangladesh (UNB) news agency.

March 20th, 2009 DHAKA - The first-ever probe into the financial dealings of Bangladesh's parliament secretariat will be conducted by an 11-member all-party committee constituted by Speaker Abdul Hamid. The body will look into allegations of financial anomalies, misuse of power and wastage of public money against previous speaker Jamiruddin Sircar.

January 24th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh's ninth Jatiya Sangsad or parliament had a formal start Sunday as it unanimousloy elected a lawyer and a former soldier as its presiding officers. Advocate Abdul Hamid is speaker and Col (retd) Shawkat Ali is deputy speaker for the house that has to transact massive lawmaking business, the UNB news agency reported.