Rooppur Graft Case: HC rejects bail petitions of contractor Shahadat

The High Court yesterday refused to grant bail to contractor Shahadat Hossain in two separate cases filed over much-talked about corruption in purchasing furniture and household items for officials of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in Pabna.

The bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim passed the order after holding a virtual hearing of the petitions filed by Shahadat, managing director of Swadheen Construction Ltd that supplied the materials.

The bench did not grant bail to Shahadat as another HC bench earlier had refused to grant him bail in the cases, Deputy Attorney General Dr Md Bashir Ullah told The Daily Star.

Barrister Shafique Ahmed and Advocate Abdul Matin appeared for Shahadat while Attorney General Mahbubey Alam and ACC lawyer AK Fazlul Haque vehemently opposed the bail petitions.

The ACC filed the two cases with its Pabna district office against Shahadat and several others on December 12 last year on charges of irregularities involving Tk 16 crore in supplying furniture and household items to the officials of Rooppur plant, the DAG said. Shahadat was also arrested on that day, he informed.                 

According to several reports, the prices of the various items used to furnish the project's 966 flats for the Russian engineers and others were abnormally higher than market prices.

The reports claimed that each pillow was bought for Tk 5,957, and the cost of carrying it to a flat was Tk 760. An electric stove cost Tk 7,747 and the carrying cost from the ground floor to the top one cost Tk 6,650.The reports also said the price of an electric iron was Tk 4,154 and the carrying cost Tk 2,945.