DCC Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka allegedly knew everything but did not take any step.

The ward commissioners--MA Kayum of ward-21, Abdul Latif of ward-51, and Monowar Hossain Dipjol of ward-9--cheated the government out of over Tk 1 crore revenue from the lease. They also illegally built shops at the terminal violating DCC rules.

They even opened an account with the Baghbari branch of Agrani Bank for transactions of Diba Enterprise.

Abul Bashar, owner of Diba Enterprise that won the DCC tender for leasing the terminal in October 2003, said he could not enter the terminal premises even for once.

The irony of the whole affair is that if the DCC now goes for any legal action, Abul Bashar will be found guilty as all activities at the bus terminal took place in the name of him and his company.

Diba Enterprise officials alleged that Kayum, Latif and Dipjol used to collect tolls from the bus terminal in its name but did not deposit the money with the DCC. Dipjol would collect his share through one Nurul Haque alias Hokka.

The three ward commissioners have thus gobbled up revenues of Tk 1,75,68,393.

Kayum was arrested in February this year while Latif and Dipjol have been absconding.

DCC Mayor Khoka, however, said he was not aware of such criminal activities. "Nobody has ever informed me of such things and I am not supposed to know whether the actual operator is running the terminal or not...Go ask the officials of bus terminal section," Khoka said.

Khoka also said he will take stern action if Diba Enterprise is found to have failed to deposit the dues.

Officials in the DCC department that deals with leasing out the city's bus terminals claimed that they repeatedly informed the mayor of the matter and even formally asked him to cancel the lease, but the mayor never responded to their plea.

A high official of the department said observing Diba Enterprise's violation of the DCC rules, the department recommended cancelling its contract. "But while there was no action from the DCC authorities, ward commissioners Kayum and Latif threatened the department officials for making such recommendation," the official said requesting anonymity.

Sources also said Khoka extended the leasing period of Diba Enterprise up to September 2007 on the basis of recommendation from Kayum.

The DCC last year asked Diba Enterprise to build 150 shops--each measuring 24 square feet (sqft)--to rehabilitate hawkers. The shops were built under the supervision of the three ward commissioners violating the DCC specification--some shops measuring 35sqft, some 40sqft and some even 126sqft.

The DCC mayor approved the shops in three phases--on August 20 and September 19 last year and on April 4 this year--following recommendations from Kayum.

A high official of the DCC's Traffic Engineering Department said according to rules the design has to be submitted before constructing any structure but Diba Enterprise did not bother to follow that rule.

"We are supposed to blacklist any firm for such practice but we could not do anything in this case," he said.

The shops were built at a cost of Tk 12 lakh and were sold for Tk 75 lakh.

Sources said owners of at least 100 illegal shops used to give money to the three ward commissioners and the amount would be Tk 70,000 a month.

Diba Enterprise owner Abul Bashar did not dare to file even a general diary (GD). He said, "My life was under threat at that time. They [the three ward commissioners] used to threaten me quite often over telephone. They also demanded Tk 2 lakh from my representative whom I gave the charge of the terminal on February 16, 2007."

Habibur Rahman, who is now in charge of the terminal on behalf of Diba Enterprise, said he had to pay the due electric bills of Tk 12 lakh and now has to pay daily taxes of Tk 47 thousand to the DCC.

"When I first stepped into the terminal, I had to pay Tk 2 lakh to the extortionists. The men of the three ward commissioners later demanded Tk 3 lakh more and I informed the Rab of this," he said.

The Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested Motiur Rahman Babul and Kayum's nephew Kamrul Huda from the spot on May 30 this year when they came to take the money.