ACC to reply to WB queries soon
The Anti-Corruption Commission will soon reply to the queries from the World Bank's external panel about the probe into the corruption allegations in the Padma bridge project, ACC Chairman Ghulam Rahman said yesterday.
He, however, did not elaborate.
Referring to WB Country Director Ellen Goldstein's comment that the WB wants the ACC to speed up the probe, Rahman said, "We could not communicate directly with the Canadian authorities…the attorney general on ACC's behalf is keeping contact with his counterpart there. We are yet to receive any response.”
There could be allegations in any big project but those should be investigated properly. And the project's work should continue at the same time for the sake of the country and its people, said the ACC chairman while talking to journalists at his office in the afternoon.
The WB cancelled its $1.2 billion credit for the project on June 29, saying it had proof of a corruption conspiracy involving Bangladeshi officials, executives of a Canadian firm and some private individuals.
The global lender, however, decided to revive its loan on September 21 after the Bangladesh government agreed to its terms and conditions.
The WB appointed an external panel early this month to assess the conduct of the ACC investigation. The panel recently visited Dhaka and held talks with ACC officials.
The ACC chairman also told journalists that it was unknown why Azam Khan, the driver of Suranjit Sengupta's sacked APS Omar Faruq Talukder, failed to appear before it in connection with the railwaygate scandal.
He said if necessary, the ACC might quiz Azam at a place convenient for him. "If he [Azam] contacts us, we will consider that."
The ACC asked Azam, who took the lid off corruption over recruitment in the railway, to appear before it on October 21 in connection with the scandal.
In an interview with private TV channel Rtv early this month, Azam said the money was being taken to the residence of the then railway minister Suranjit Sengupta.
“But, I foiled the attempt. Money had been taken [to Suranjit's house] several times before as well," the driver said.
Azam drove Faruq's microbus into the BGB Pilkhana headquarters on April 9 night, and told the guards that there was bribe money in the vehicle.
Faruq, railway general manager (east) Yusuf Ali Mridha and its Dhaka division security commandant Enamul Huq were also in the microbus.
BGB men detained the four but freed them the next day. The driver had been missing since then.
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