BSRM shocked
Bangladesh Steel Re-rolling Mills (BSRM) is seeking legal counsel to file a defamation suit against state-run Padma Oil Company Ltd, according to a statement sent to The Daily Star by BSRM yesterday.
The effort was prompted by a news report published in The Daily Star on May 22 under the headline "State oil for stealing".
The report said Rapid Action Battalion seized more than 3 lakh litres of furnace oil from Anu Majhir Ghat in Chittagong on Sunday night when the fuel was being hauled for black market.
A part of that consignment was released from a Padma Oil depot.
After the seizure, Rab members visited the Padma Oil distribution centre at Sadarghat and found a list that said 1.2 lakh litres of furnace oil had been dispatched from the depot for 15 companies on Sunday, and one of the 15 companies on the list was BSRM.
BSRM's statement said the company wrote to Padma Oil last year for regular supply of furnace oil, but Padma Oil neither allotted a quota nor did it bother to reply.
"If Padma Oil did not allot a quota for furnace oil to BSRM there is no question of our name being on the list of the consignees," said the statement.
In the face of the state-run company's non-cooperation, BSRM was compelled to purchase furnace oil from local suppliers M/S Mintu Enterprise, M/S Ishaq Trading & Logistics, and M/S Anjuman Traders at a price much higher than the actual price fixed by the government, the statement added.
"Hence we are shocked to find our name as one of the recipient's of the consignment of the stolen oil," BSRM said.
"…the BSRM name has been smeared by the corrupt practices of the state oil company," the statement added.
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