Rooppur scam: HC wants to know govt’s action

The High Court today wanted to know the government’s action against the persons responsible for anomalies of Tk 36.4 crore in purchasing furniture and other household items for officials of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in Pabna.

“As two separate committees formed by the government have probed the allegations of the anomalies of Tk 36.4 crore. We will wait to see what action is taken against the persons responsible for these,” the HC bench of Justice Tariq ul Hakim and Justice Md. Shohrowardi said during hearing a writ petition.

The bench also said it will hold further hearing and pass order on this issue after one week following the reopen of the court on its annual vacation which will began from August 30.

It means that the HC will hear and pass order on the issue on October 20, Deputy Attorney General Amatul Karim Swapna, who placed the probe reports before the HC, told The Daily Star.

He said two separate committees were formed by the ministry of housing and public works and the public works to enquire into the allegations of anomalies in purchasing furniture and other household items for officials of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in Pabna.

The ministry formed committee has found anomalies of Tk 36.4 crore in purchasing furniture and other household products for four buildings of the Green City Housing Project under the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in Pabna, DAG Amatul said.

She said another committee formed by the public works department has found possible anomalies of Tk 62 core in purchasing furniture and other household items for nine buildings of the same housing project.

More than 50 officials including Engineer Masudul Alam, former project director of Green City Housing Project, were found responsible for the anomalies by the two probe committees.

On May 22, Masudul was made a reserve officer at the public works department for his alleged involvement in the irregularities, DAG Amatul said, adding that their promotion file has been kept halted.

During hearing earlier in the day, writ petitioner Barrister Syed Sayedul Haque Suman told the court that the government’s action to form the probe committees and their enquiry reports are satisfactory.

The committees suggested taking action to realise Tk 36.4 crore that was paid through anomalies and to take departmental action against the persons responsible for the irregularities, he said, adding that criminal proceedings need to be taken against them.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam prayed to the court to wait for two to two and half months to know the government’s action against the persons responsible for the anomalies.  

Following the writ petition by Supreme Court lawyer Syed Sayedul Haque Suman, the HC on July 2 asked the attorney general’s office to collect the committees’ reports and submit those before the court in two weeks.

It also issued a rule asking the government to explain in weeks as to why it failed to ensure transparency in purchasing the items.

According to reports of the mass as well as the social media, the purchase prices of various items to furnish the project’s 966 flats for the Russian engineers and others were abnormally higher than the 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.