Padma Bridge Project Evidence of corruption against Abul!

The Dhaka Times Desk The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has found corruption related to former Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain in the appointment of a consultant for the Padma Bridge project, the names of five persons including Abul have been found in the list of bribes written in the diary of Canadian company SNC Lavalin official Ramesh Shah. The ACC is conducting the investigation based on this list. The investigation committee of the ACC will recommend a case against Abul and those concerned next December. And the work of writing the report along with the recommendation to file the case is almost at the final stage. A news agency has confirmed this information citing reliable sources of ACC.

The five persons found in the list of bribes in Ramesh's diary are Syed Abul Hossain, former secretary of bridge department Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, former director of Padma Bridge project Rafiqul Islam, former state minister for foreign affairs Abul Hasan Chowdhury and Nixon Chowdhury.

Sources said the ACC investigation team will send its summary to the World Bank's expert panel as soon as it reports to the commission. After that, a case will be filed against the accused.

Recently the World Bank panel came to Dhaka and requested the investigation team to submit the report by December. Their request was that as soon as the allegations are proved, action should be taken against the accused as per the prevailing laws of Bangladesh.

According to related sources, the evidence of the bribery claim to SNC-Lavalin (Canadian company) which came out in the investigation of the Canadian police will reach the ACC at any time. Apart from this, the case can also be recommended with the information that has come out so far from various media including the interrogation on the corruption charges of the project.

In July, the ACC obtained a list of names of persons to be bribed in return for getting SNC-Lavalin work as a consultant on the Padma Bridge project. The list was sent along with a letter sent by the World Bank to the ACC Chairman. The list contains the names of public and private level individuals. Among them, some names are written in abbreviated form and some names are written in full. Briefly all those whose names have been written were associated with the work of the Padma Setu project.

According to sources, the Canadian police seized a diary related to the activities of the Padma Setu project from the office of SNC-Lavalin during the investigation. A list of demands for bribes is found in the diary. Canadian police sent the list of names to the World Bank along with some investigative data. The World Bank has already sent the list to the ACC. As part of the investigation, the interrogation of the persons on the list has been completed.

According to ACC sources, the first thing written in that list is that they have to pay something as per the demand. Later the names are written according to the serial. In the diary of Canadian citizen Ramesh, the names of three persons were first briefly written in the list of corruption. They are then Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain, former Secretary of Bridges Department Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan and former Padma Bridge Project Director Rafiqul Islam. Then the names of former foreign minister Abul Hasan Chowdhury and Nixon Chowdhury were written in full. Apart from this list, the ACC also found several persons involved in corruption conspiracy in the Padma Setu project.

When contacted, ACC Chairman Golam Rahman said at 6 pm, “If we can come to a conclusion that there is corruption in this project then a case will be filed against the accused. A case will be filed as soon as the investigation report is submitted.” When asked who has been found involved in corruption so far, the ACC chairman said, "I can't say that right now. I don't want to say anything about who will be sued or not. We try to give a fair report. The interest of the country is involved here.”

The ACC chairman said, "After the ACC investigation team submits the project report, the next decision will be taken after discussion with the expert panel." Golam Rahman also said, "Whoever is found guilty of corruption, action will be taken against him as per the law."

It is known that the then official of SNC-Lavalin in Canada, Ramesh Shaha (Canadian citizen) made that list. According to the information received in the investigation, Ramesh Shah and Md. in Canada. Ismail Hossain was arrested by the police of that country. They are currently out on bail. ACC has sought the investigation report of the Canadian police through the Attorney General for proper investigation of the allegation. Related sources said that the investigation report is coming soon.

It is known that in the implementation of the Padma Setu project, the allocation for the consultancy firm was 47 million dollars. The list was made to pay bribes in exchange for getting jobs. Former SNC-Lavalin chief executive officer Pierre Duhaime, who was arrested on charges related to financial transactions, and documents seized from SNC-Lavalin's offices were examined by Canadian police to obtain information about bribery in exchange for work as a consultant.

According to sources, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was assigned the task of investigating the matter after the World Bank made a complaint to the Canadian government that SNC-Lavalin resorted to irregularities and corruption to get appointed as a consultant for the Padma Bridge project. After that, the police raided the office of SNC-Lavalin and seized all the documents including the computer of that office. Among the documents seized was a diary listing the bribes.

The Canadian police sent the list prepared by SNC-Lavalin to the World Bank a few days ago for information and bribes related to the progress of their investigation. The World Bank has already sent the information and the bribe list to the ACC chairman.

According to the sources, the ACC team has started the investigation based on the advice given by the three members of the World Bank and started getting the evidence of corruption. In the meantime, the Prime Minister's economic adviser. The team got a lot of important information by interrogating Mosiur Rahman. Besides, officials are trying to get necessary information from those who are being interrogated anew.

Meanwhile, the newly formed four-member search and investigation team led by ACC Senior Deputy Director Abdulsnah Al Zahid is working on a report on corruption in the appointment of Setu's consultants. It is known that the team has also started the work of preparing the investigation report along with the second round of interrogation of the 29 people who were interrogated earlier including former minister Syed Abul Hossain. This process was started from last week. MA Aziz, the local sub-agent of SNC Lavalin, the first Canadian company to participate in the tender, and Golam Mostafa, the sub-agent of Acom New Zealand in Bangladesh, were interrogated.

A high-level source in ACC said that on October 14, a three-member expert panel of the World Bank visited Bangladesh and held two consecutive meetings and gave guidance on several issues. They are now monitoring the work of the ACC. As a result, ACC is conducting its investigation in the right direction, officials said. Because the World Bank's 1.2 billion dollar loan assistance in this project depends on their report. The company canceled the loan agreement in June after raising allegations of corruption in the Padma Bridge project, but the company announced a conditional return to the project in September last year due to the government's multifaceted efforts.

A two-member investigation team led by ACC Senior Deputy Director Mir Zainul Abedin Shibli began investigating corruption in the hiring of bridge contractors and consultants in September last year. The World Bank was disappointed that Syed Abul Hossain was excluded from their report. Prime Minister's Economic Adviser Moshiur was sent on leave on the advice of the World Bank.

Meanwhile, another source in the ACC said that those accused of corruption in the project may eventually withdraw from the case as the ACC had earlier claimed Abul 'innocent' of the Padma Bridge contractor corruption. (Khabar Bangladesh News24.com).