Another Bangladeshi citizen has appeared in court for allegedly kidnapping and robbing fellow countrymen. Jahid Jaman, 27, appeared briefly in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court charged with kidnapping businessman Jashid Hoosen Uddin in Northdale on June 22 and with robbing Belayet Hoosen at a shop in Old Greytown Road. Ibrahim Miah, a Bangladeshi businessman from Durban, was originally arrested and charged for the kidnapping and robbery, but charges against him were withdrawn last week owing to a lack of evidence. It is alle...

The National Board of Revenue yesterday honoured 122 VAT-paying firms in fiscal 2012-13 in a bid to encourage industrialists and businesses to deposit more value-added tax to the state coffers. The award, which is now in its fourth year, recognised entities in three categories: production, service and business. Of the firms, nine were awarded from the national level and 113 from district level; three were state-run energy sector entities and the rest were from the private sector. Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed h...

UK Trade & Industry (UKTI) has identified an untapped opportunity in Bangladesh for the construction sector. It said that a company that is a household name in Bangladesh and is a conglomerate worth £38m wants to expand its construction division and form a joint venture with a company in the UK. The company is particularly interested in precast buildings that can be produced locally. UKTI said that the company thinks that precast buildings that require considerably less time to build than conventional structures will have strong demand...

The National Board of Revenue is observing VAT Day today and the Vat Week from July10-16 for the fourth consecutive year aiming to create more awareness among people and businesses about the tax. Like previous years, the programmes of the Vat Day and the Vat Week will include rally and discussions. President Abdul Hamid and prime minister Sheikh Hasina, in separate messages, hoped that the Day and the Week would make people more aware about the system and tax officials sincere in earning more revenue for the country while providing better servic...