BCIC rejoinder, our reply
The Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) has sent a rejoinder to a report “Even a ship full of fertiliser vanishes,” published on 27/01/17 on page 1 in The Daily Star. We are publishing the full text of the rejoinder with our reply paragraph by paragraph.
BCIC: The attention of BCIC authority has been drawn to a news item published under headline "Even a ship full of fertiliser vanishes" in your esteemed Daily of 27/01/2017 at page 1. The factual information on the above news is furnished below with a request to publish the same in the next issue of The Daily Star.
The news regarding Maheswari is not true because 16,500 MT urea was not carried by M/S. M Trading Company Pvt. Ltd, ship. It was M/S Swiss Singapore Overseas Enterprises Pte, Ltd, UAE who carried 16,500 MT urea under Bill of Lading (B/L) No. MH-01 dated 10-12-2011. Concern payments were made after completion of Post landing Inspection (PLI), joint survey report and discharge the urea. So the ship vanished without unloading a single bag of fertilizers is totally false and fabricated.
DS: Two departments of BCIC are involved in dealing with urea fertiliser. One department pays money once ships arrive and another receives the material. BCIC rightly claimed that payments were made to the carrier and we have also mentioned this in our story. However, we also mentioned that the fertilizer vanished as no warehouse received that quantity of fertiliser and so far the BCIC has failed to show any proof that they received the fertiliser.
Until the news was published, there was no Material Receive Record in the department concerned. Though there is record of unloading the fertiliser on paper, there is no existence of that fertiliser in reality. We reported M Trading carried the fertiliser but the name of the carrier will be Swiss Singapore Overseas Enterprises Pte. Ltd. We regret the error.
BCIC: M/S Nabab & Co. carried 21,500 MT Urea Fertilizer from MV Ikan Jebhu without BCIC's allocation. Among 21,500 M.ton, he delivered 21,120 M.tons to BCIC's Godown and police seized 380 M.tons in Dinajpur. So no Fertilizer was lost. In spite of that BCIC's branch office sent a letter to the Officer In-Charge of EPZ Thana to file a case against M/S Nabab & Co. for taking Fertilizer without allotment letter from BCIC. It is mentionable that BCIC still did not pay the concern carrying bill.
M/S Nabab & Co. took 16,275 M.tons from MV Barbaros G with proper documents & did not lift any quantity from M.V. Green Field-1. So the report published regarding taking Fertilizer from MV Barbaros G & M.V. Green Field-1 without allotment is totally false.
DS: A BCIC document signed by four senior officials dated 20 April 2016 said Nabab carried 21,500 tonnes of fertiliser from MV Ikan Jebuh that arrived at Chittagong Port in March last year. We reported that the company escaped punishment by returning the fertiliser.
We regret to have reported the company took fertiliser from Green Field-1. Actually the company carried additional 13,354 tonnes without official allocation from four mother vessels named Ocean Melody, Oriental Harmony, MV Amelie and MV Nats Emperor and BCIC is still to receive that amount. The company got allocation of 50,185 tonnes but it carried 63,539 tonnes.
It also took 6,535 tonnes from another ship named Lord Nelson the same year but still did not hand it over.
We mentioned that the company took over 3,900 tonnes from Barbaros G without official allocation like it did with other ships. Except the amount, the company carried over 12,000 tonnes with documents.
BCIC: Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) imported 33,000 MT Urea from QATAR under Government to Government contract. M/S Sagarship Management Pte Ltd, Singapore was an international carrier and carried 33,000 MT urea per vessel MV S. Atlantic. But due to failure of M/S Sagarship Management Pte Ltd, Singapore to discharge the Urea, then BCIC as per court order against Admiralty Suit No. 35/2015 discharged the whole urea. BCIC later has taken action against M/S Sagarship Management Pte Ltd. Singapore for this misconduct by debarring through gazette notification from participating any tender of BCIC and taking of legal action against the said company is under process. But M. Trading is not related to MV S. Atlantic Vessel.
DS: We mentioned in our story that the company was later barred from participating in tenders for failing to unload fertiliser from another vessel. We mentioned M. Trading as the company is the local carrier of the Sagarship Management.
BCIC: BCIC has no record to receive bulk Urea instead of bag at warehouse level.
DS: We did not claim so in our story. BCIC board meeting on 21 April observed that M Trading delivered 7827 tonnes of urea fertiliser to Nabab & Company in bulk form which the BCIC itself termed as a clear breach of the contract.
BCIC: No mother Vessel can reach at Chittagong jetty due to its draft. This is why mother Vessel anchors at deep sea. After lightering some quantity in presence of BCIC's officials & surveyors the mother Vessel reaches to Port jetty. There is no scope of stealing Urea Fertilizer.
DS: BCIC officials told this paper that there is scope of stealing urea fertilizer while discharging from mother vessel to lighter vessels.
BCIC: BCIC has to maintain a stock of 6 to 8 lac M.Ton Urea Fertilizer for whole the year to fulfill demand of the country. But storage capacity of BCIC's factory & Buffer Godowns is only 3 (three) lac M.tons. As a result some portion of Fertilizer remaining on transshipment. It is a continuous process of fertilizer distribution system from the beginning of BCIC. So, Transit quantity stands to 2,58,723 M.T. on 31st December' 16 as per BCIC's daily report. It is being delivered to Godowns & Factories gradually.
For the constraint of space at Godowns & Fertilizer factory, in some cases it is not possible on the part of carrying contractors to deliver the Fertilizer within 21 days. The Godown in charge doesn't receive any underweight bag and so far BCIC did not receive any allegation from any corner that the Godowns In-charge issue MRR having any benefits.
DS: According to the BCIC statistics the closing stock of the urea fertilizer was 4.54 lakh in 2009 which increased to 7.80 lakh in 2014. The amount of fertilizer in stock jumped to 9 lakh in 2015 and 12.93 lakh in 2016.
We mentioned in our story the sudden rise of fertiliser in transit has created further scope of misappropriation. Terming it “serious irregularities”, an internal audit of BCIC dated Feb 2, 2016 shows that the record of over 3.25 lakh tonnes in transit fertiliser worth Tk 1515 crore was not kept properly. A commercial audit on October 24 last year said due to mismatch of accounts of fertiliser in transit, BCIC had incurred a loss of Tk 227 crore. We reported that crores of taka had been misappropriated by a syndicate in the name of fertiliser in transit with impunity.
We have also mentioned that the local transporters are taking advantage of the space shortage in the BCIC warehouses across the country and not delivering the fertiliser within the contracted period of 21 days. There is provision of fine if any carrier company fails to deliver within the timeframe but no action was taken against any company on this ground making it easy for the carriers to continue the malpractice. As per BCIC documents, there are lots of cases where the carriers have not handed over fertiliser year after year. BCIC has poor documentation about the carrier based fertiliser in transit which is making it difficult for it to deal with urea fertiliser in transit, according to a document of the organisation.
BCIC: BCIC have already taken departmental action against those officers who are involved with issuing additional allotment to M/S Surma Banijyik Sangstha without approval from the competent authority.
DS: BCIC's claim about taking departmental action against the officials is not supported by facts. It only suggested taking actions against four of its officials in this connection. So far no action has been taken. Three officials are still working and one has gone on LPR (Leave Prior to Retirement).
M/S SURMA BANIJYIK
SANGSTHA'S REJOINDER
In a separate rejoinder, M/S Surma Banijyik Sangstha said the news regarding the company that it transported 10,000 tonnes of fertiliser without approval is completely false and baseless and has been published to tarnish the image of the company.
DS: BCIC's reports show the company did transport the said fertiliser without approval. We stand by our report.
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