JS body for legal steps against BNP ministers, officials
A parliamentary body yesterday recommended legal actions against the minister and state minister for power of the last BNP government on charges of embezzlement and irregularities.
The public accounts committee also urged administrative measures against the power secretary and heads of the PDB, Desa and Desco between 2003 and 2006 on the same grounds.
It also asked the health ministry to file cases against the then minister and state minister for health, its secretary, chiefs of health directorate and respective project directors between 2003 and 2004 on charges of misappropriation and wasting of public money.
The parliamentary watchdog asked the health ministry to realise Tk 8 crore from the erstwhile minister and state minister for health and the then health secretary and other top officials responsible for the misappropriation and wasting money.
The committee chief yesterday made the recommendations after discussing audit objection reports on power and health ministry for 2003-06 and 2003-04 respectively. Comptroller and auditor general's office prepared the reports.
BNP Chairperson and former premier Khaleda Zia held the portfolio of power minister during her tenure in 2001-06 while Sultan Salauddin Tuku was the state minister for power. BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain was the then health minister.
"An imaginary purchase of Tk 7.5 crore was shown in 2003-04 under a foreign aided project under the health ministry. In another project Tk 41.5 lakh was spent in the name of purchasing medicine," chief of the public accounts committee Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir told reporters after committee meeting at the parliament.
All the money for the two projects had to be sent back to the World Bank (WB) on revelation of the anomalies. These irregularities are recorded in the audit reports," said Alamgir.
About misappropriation of money in the power sector Alamgir said as per the reports, Rural Electrification Board in 2005-06 purchased faulty electric meters worth Tk 39 lakh with WB fund.
The Power Development Board misappropriated Tk 32.27 crore showing 41 percent system loss in 2003-04, he said, adding that PDB also showed a loss of Tk 14 crore mentioning poor supply of power.
In total around Tk 48.70 crore was misappropriated in power sector between 2003 and 2006 for which the then minister, state minister and top government officials are responsible, Alamgir said.
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