This time, it's urea

After the “disappearance” of coal from Barapukuria coal mine and hard rock from Maddhapara granite mine, around 52,345 tonnes of fertiliser from Bogura's Santahar warehouse has apparently gone “missing”.

The urea, kept in a buffer warehouse, belonged to state-run Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC). Its total value is Tk 153.36 crore.

The former in-charge of the warehouse and the owner of a contracting company have allegedly sold the fertiliser in black market between July 2013 and June 2016.

This came to light as Anti-Corruption Commission in Bogura filed a case against deputy chief engineer (mechanical) Nabir Uddin Khan, former in-charge of the warehouse, and Rashedul Islam Khan, proprietor of M/s Raja Traders, for allegedly misappropriating the abovementioned fertiliser.

Rashedul Islam Khan is also a leader of Adamdighi upazila Sramik League, a pro-Awami League organisation.

Aminul Islam, assistant director of Bogura integrated district office of ACC, filed the case with Adamdighi Police Station yesterday morning.

Monirul Islam, officer-in-charge of the police station, said it was filed under section 5 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

“The buffer warehouse [Santahar] is under BCIC, which imports and produces fertiliser then stores at the depots,” Aminul told The Daily Star.

The fertiliser is preserved in 24 buffer warehouses across the country and is transported there through various contractors, said the ACC assistant director.

But allegations ran rife that fertiliser was being misappropriated during transportation, especially the ones for Santahar warehouse, the assistant director said. “So, we investigated the allegations and found evidence that it was being sold illegally.”

Aminul Islam said BCIC imported the urea and also produced it at Kafco (Karnaphuli Fertilizer Company Limited) and SFCL (Shahjahalal Fertilizer Company Limited) during 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 fiscal years.

Later, BCIC floated a tender to transport the urea to its warehouses and gave the contract to six companies. At the same time, BCIC also signed a contract with Raja Traders for loading and unloading the urea at Santahar warehouse, he said.

According to the case statement, the warehouse should have collected around 2.42 lakh tonnes of fertiliser from 2013 to June 2016.

But the logbook of Santahar warehouse showed it received around 1.90 lakh tonnes.

Nabir Uddin and Rashedul Islam misappropriated around 52,342 tonnes of fertiliser and embezzled Tk 153.36 crore of government money, it added.

This newspaper has also obtained a copy of the case statement.

Contacted, Deputy Director Anwarul Haque of ACC in Bogura, said, “After getting complaints from various sources, we conducted an investigation and found evidence of misappropriation.”

“We have found signature of the former in-charge in the logbook stating that he has received 2.42 lakh tonnes of urea after it was delivered at the gate,” he said.

“But when we checked the inventory, we found that around 52,342 tonnes were missing,” he added.

When asked, Rashedul Islam refuted the allegations. “At the time of the incident, I was sick,” he said.

“As I'm involved in politics, there's no shortage of [political] foes. They probably influenced ACC to file a case against me to tarnish my image.”

Asked about the allegation of urea shortage, he said he would follow legal process in this regard and refused to elaborate any further.

His phone was found switched off afterwards.

Former warehouse in-charge Nabir Uddin could not be contacted over the phone despite numerous attempts.

This correspondent also contacted his family and friends but they refused to speak about this matter or his whereabouts.

Contacted, Deputy Chief Engineer Abdul Malek, in-charge of Santahar warehouse, said, “I joined in 2016. I was not aware of the incident. If the allegations are found to be true, the former in-charge has to take the responsibility.”