Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant scam: HC rejects engineer Aminul Islam’s bail petition
The High Court today refused to grant bail to suspended assistant engineer Md Aminul Islam of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project in four separate cases filed over corruption in purchasing furniture and household items for officials of the plant in Pabna.
The court, however, issued four rules asking the Anti-Corruption Commission and the state to explain why Aminul Islam should not be granted bail in the cases in four weeks.
The HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Mohi Uddin Shamim decided on the rules after virtually hearing four separate bail petitions filed by Aminul, now in Pabna jail.
Aminul's lawyer Md Motaher Hossain Sazu told The Daily Star that his client was an apprentice engineer and he was not involved in purchasing household items for the project.
The HC issued the rules without granting bail to Aminul, as it will hold a hearing in detail on his bail petitions, the lawyer added.
ACC's lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan opposed the bail petitions while Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin represented the state during hearing the petitions.
The ACC filed the cases with its Pabna district office against the then assistant engineer Aminul Islam and several others on December 12, 2019 on charges of irregularities involving Tk 7 crore in supplying furniture and household items to the officials of Rooppur Nuclear Power 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 cost of carrying it from the ground floor to the top floor was Tk 6,650. The price of an electric iron was Tk 4,154 and the carrying cost was Tk 2,945, the report showed.