ACC calls 4 witnesses for interrogation

The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday issued notice to Padma bridge project's ex-project director Rafiqul Islam and three others to face interrogation by the commission regarding a corruption conspiracy case associated with the project.
The four persons summoned are FIR (First Information Report)-named witnesses in the corruption conspiracy case, said a high official of the commission.
Rafiqul and Tarun Tapan Dewan, former executive engineer of Roads and Highway Department, have been asked to appear before the ACC headquarters in the capital on February 3.
The other two -- Ishtiak Ahmed, former professor of Buet, and Mokbul Hossain, former additional director general of Water Development Board -- have been asked to appear before the commission on January 31.
Aside from Rafiqul, the other three were members of the evaluation committee formed to select a supervisory consultant for the project.
“In earlier interrogation, the four people already shared with the ACC what irregularities they found while working in the evaluation committee,” said the official preferring anonymity.
The official said some 15 persons including the four are to give deposition in connection with the case.
On December 17 last year, after a year-long inquiry into the allegation over Padma bridge project, the ACC sued seven people for conspiring to commit bribery.
The accused include Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, former secretary to the Bridges Division, but the anti-graft body did not include in the case former communications minister Syed Abul Hossain and former state minister for foreign affairs Abul Hasan Chowdhury.
However, ACC officials said alleged involvement of the two would be examined during investigation of the case.