Padma bridge bribe was ready for 6
The Canadian company SNC-Lavalin had offered at least six influential Bangladeshis, including former communications minister Syed Abul Hossain, huge bribes to obtain the consultant's job in the Padma bridge project. Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in an investigation found proof to this end and has shared the information with the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), which is also conducting a probe on the issue, said ACC official sources. The five others, whose names came up in the RCMP investigation, are: Abul Hasan Chowdhury, ex-state minister for foreign affairs, Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, ex-secretary of the Bridges Division of the communications ministry, Rafiqul Islam ex-director of Padma Multipurpose Bridge project, Mujibur Rahman Chowdhury alias Nixon Chowdhury, civil contractor and younger brother of parliament whip Noor-E-Alam Chowdhury, and Ziaul Huq, managing director of Engineering and Planning Consultant Ltd (CEP), who represented SNC-Lavalin in the Padma bridge tender, said ACC sources. The sources, however, did not disclose the amount of money that had been offered to the six. An RCMP team may arrive in Dhaka on June 25 or July 3 to share further details and collect more information from the ACC, said Khondakar Muhammad Aminur Rahman, director general (Spl) of the ACC. As part of the investigation, the ACC has already quizzed Abul Hasan Chowdhury and Nixon Chowdhury and summoned MD of CEP Ziaul Huq to appear at the ACC office on June 24. It will also summon Syed Abul Hossain, Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, Rafiqul Islam and Nurul Haque, chairman of Syed Abul Hossain's company Sahco, soon. The sources said Abul Hasan Chowdhury was quizzed as he was a close relative of Ziaul Huq and played a vital role in arranging meetings at the Bridges Division office for the appointment of the consulting firm. Nixon Chowdhury was interrogated as he had close links with Ismail Hossain, an official of SNC-Lavalin, the sources added. SNC-Lavalin submitted its bid to act as the owner's engineer for the Bangladesh government to supervise the contractor responsible for Padma bridge construction. Following allegations of irregularities, the World Bank last September suspended its $ 1.2 billion fund for the bridge and launched an investigation on its bidding process. This year, the WB temporarily barred a unit of SNC-Lavalin from bidding in its new projects following an investigation into the Padma bridge project. ACC Secretary Faizur Rahman Chowdhury yesterday said the ACC had launched two separate investigations on the Padma Bridge Project. “One is on the construction of the bridge and the other on the appointment of a consultant firm,” he said, “In the first investigation, we did not find any proof in favour of the allegation. The second investigation is still on.” Talking to The Daily Star, a cabinet member noted that due to Abul Hossain's wrongdoings, the whole nation was being deprived of the Padma bridge. SOME RCMP FINDINGS
The RCMP launched an investigation against SNC-Lavalin last October following a WB request. It raided the company's office, seized all documents from there and arrested former chief executive Pierre Duhaime, Bangladeshi-born Canadian citizen Ismail Hossain and Indian-born Canadian citizen Ramesh. ACC sources said the RCMP had claimed that they gleaned information and found proof of various irregularities regarding the consultant's appointment for the bridge project by interrogating the three detainees. Seeking anonymity, an ACC investigator of the case told The Daily Star that the seized SNC-Lavalin documents show that the company had readied itself to pay a huge amount of bribe to people who were helping it obtain the job. The payment was set to be made after the appointment. ACC chief Ghulam Rahman yesterday at a briefing in his office said the anti-graft commission had received some information from the WB and RCMP on the case. The ACC was working on it, he added. He denied having any information that ministers and officials had demanded money as bribes from the Canadian company. Several other ACC officials, however, contradicted their chief, saying that the RCMP had obtained solid evidence of bribery. I AM HOLY: ABUL HOSSAIN
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Minister Syed Abul Hossain, also former communications minister, yesterday said, “I am a transparent and holy person. I have always done my job with efficiency, transparency and honesty.” “I have not done anything wrong in my life. Everything published in some newspapers linking me with irregularities in the Padma bridge project is false, baseless and fabricated,” he claimed. He said nothing unethical happened in the bridge project. “I did not even get any undue proposal regarding it,” said Abul Hossain. The ex-communications minister claimed that all the agencies of the world, apart from the WB and ACC, could investigate the alleged corruption if they wanted but they would not find any proof of his involvement with any irregularities. He said the ACC had not found his involvement in any scandal regarding the bridge project after a long and thorough investigation. Abul Hossain also denied lobbying for SNC-Lavalin to have it obtain the contract. MOSHARRAF'S REACTION
Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, now the chairman of Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority, categorically rejected the allegation of demanding commission from SNC-Lavalin. He said representatives of all the five bidders had met the former communications minister. “Even ambassadors and diplomats of the bidders' countries met the then minister to advocate for their bidders. Some also called over the phone to place their requests, but the ex-CEO of SNC Lavalin never came. I have never known him, let alone meet him,” he told The Daily Star. Mosharraf said everyone had been told that a high-profile evaluation team was dealing with the matter. “There was no chance of interfering with their activities,” he said, adding that the World Bank should show the evidence, if it had any, of demanding commission from or meeting with the ex-CEO. “I am sure the WB won't be able to show that,” he said. “When the WB alleged corruption in the Padma bridge project last year, we requested them several times to come and talk to us. But they only talked with the complainants. Usually, both sides should be consulted,” he said. About the probe by Canadian police, he said, “We really don't know what they are probing and against whom because the WB has never shared anything with us since it brought the corruption allegations.” He said he had no idea whether the former CEO of SNC-Lavalin had been arrested in connection with his role in corruption in Bangladesh. Mosharraf said nothing wrong would emerge from the investigation.
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