Graft alleged against Westmont

Former financial consultant of Westmont Power (Bangladesh) Limited Syed Arif Niazi yesterday brought allegations of financial corruption and irregularities against the multinational company.
At a press conference at National Press Club, he claimed that Westmont gobbled up Tk 175 crore from 17 local banks through “deception”.
He also said the Malaysia-based power company embezzled a huge amount of money from the Power Development Board (PDB) through issuing fictitious bills against its electricity sales.
“Westmont plant's actual generation capacity is 69 MW, but it billed the Power Development Board (PDB) for 90 MW,” he said in his complaint.
Arif Niazi alleged that his former employer has dodged the payment of tax through import of fake equipment.
Earlier at a press conference, the Westmont authorities had accused Niazi of misappropriating company's funds.
When his attention was drawn to the company's complaint against him, Niazi refuted the allegations.