Gloom again over Padma

Gloom reappeared over the Padma bridge project as the World Bank team headed for the WB headquarters in Washington last night seemingly unhappy over the omission of ex-minister Syed Abul Hossain as a top corruption suspect in the project.
The panel of the lead project financier met twice with the Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday, with the last session lasting only for about 20 minutes. Both the parties gave unclear statements over the outcome of the meetings.
“We had some open discussions. We are grateful…," Luis Moreno Ocampo, chief of the panel, told journalists outside the ACC headquarters before leaving. On the other hand, ACC Chairman Ghulam Rahman said, "Now we have to look into the whole matter afresh…our enquiry officers will re-examine the whole thing."
Flying in on December 1, the team sat with the ACC for four times to discuss the findings of the ACC enquiry into the corruption allegations in the $2.9 billion project.
Asking not to be named, a high official said the ACC will send the WB panel within a week a list of names of persons to be included in the enquiry report on corruption allegations in the project. And the inclusion will be made on the basis of evidence and in line with Bangladesh laws.
The panel and the ACC had a difference of opinion over the draft enquiry report, as the ACC dropped some names, including that of ex-communications minister Abul Hossain, though the WB gave sufficient evidence of corruption against him along with others.
The WB panel argued that there was no scope for excluding their names from the enquiry report.
On November 13, the WB sent the ACC a third report on corruption evidence. The report contained detailed evidence of corruption against public officials concerned as well as others.
The ACC Chairman claimed that the commission's meetings with the WB panel were not a total failure.
"We will listen to what the World Bank and its external panel say…but it is the ACC that will make decisions in line with the laws of the land," he told reporters after a second meeting with the WB panel at the ACC headquarters yesterday.
Rahman said the two sides shared their views and the ACC will try to take legal steps in a day or two.
Asked whether the WB panel will visit Bangladesh again, he said the panel will inform the ACC about it.
Apparently discontent with the ACC's argument, the panel at one stage walked out of the first meeting with ACC officials in the afternoon, saying it needed to have some internal consultations.
Coming out of the meeting, Ellen Goldstein, WB country director for Bangladesh, said, “We continue to have some unresolved issues…as a result we are going for some internal consultations now.”
“It is possible that we will be coming back today for further discussion,” she told reporters.
The WB panel then met with Finance Minister AMA Muhith at his residence at about 5:00pm. Prime Minister's Foreign Affairs Adviser Gowher Rizvi and two top officials were present at the meeting.
The panel returned to the ACC headquarters without Goldstein in the evening and held talks with the ACC officials for about 20 minutes.
The panel, however, did not comment on the outcome of the second meeting.
Before leaving for the airport from the ACC, panel Chief Ocampo told reporters, "The panel appreciates the openness and frank discussions with the ACC."
ACC Commissioner Shahabuddin told The Daily Star that there were some unresolved issues about the interpretations of some laws.
A source in the ACC said the panel reiterated that the WB had sufficient evidence of corruption against Abul Hossain and others.
The ACC chairman and its commissioners on several occasions said the ACC enquiry team has found evidence of corruption conspiracy in the project.
The WB panel talked to a number of Bangladeshi lawyers for the last few days, and exchanged views on the ACC enquiry.
A high official of Asian Development Bank said they took a very positive decision about the project's financing in a meeting of the co-financiers in Manila at the end of the last month.
The official said the project's financing will finally depend on the outcome of the ACC enquiry.
The ACC launched the enquiry in September last year after the WB raised corruption allegations in the project.
The WB panel headed by Ocampo, former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, earlier visited Dhaka in October.
The two other panel members are Timothy Tong, former commissioner of the Independent Commission against Corruption of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and Richard Alderman, former director of Britain's Serious Fraud Office.
ACC sources said that unless the anti-graft body files a First Information Report, it cannot proceed from its enquiry to an investigation as expected by the global lender.
The WB cancelled its $1.2 billion funding on June 29, saying it had proof of a "corruption conspiracy" involving Bangladeshi officials, executives of a Canadian firm and some individuals.
The global lender on September 21 decided to revive the loan after the Bangladesh government agreed to the WB's terms and conditions.