Anti-Corruption Commission Chairman Ghulam Rahman yesterday said the World Bank had named some persons in the information it provided with regard to alleged corruption in the process for appointing a consultant in the Padma bridge project.
As part of the investigation, he added, ACC officials had already quizzed some of them. “However, it would not be right to reach a conclusion that those people had demanded bribes from any consulting firm.”
The ACC chief was speaking at a press briefing at the anti-graft body's headquarters in the capital's Segunbagicha.
On the matter of a team of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) visiting Dhaka, Ghulam Rahman said he would not even say whether the Canadian team had arrived, let alone its sharing with the ACC its findings regarding the alleged corruption in the Padma bridge project.
"If we comment on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, there might be a negative reaction in Canada as well as in Bangladesh," the ACC boss said, adding, "There would be possibilities for the investigation to be influenced and hampered if I comment on them."
He claimed the ACC was yet to get any information or evidence from Canadian investigators regarding the involvement of any Bangladeshi in the alleged corruption. "Our communications with them are continuing."
On Monday, immigration officials at Shahjalal International Airport confirmed the Canadian team's arrival. Sources in another government agency disclosed that the Canadian cops did meet ACC officials that day. The meeting took place outside the ACC headquarters to avoid the media.
Following allegations of irregularities in the Padma bridge project, the World Bank last September suspended its $1.2 billion fund for the bridge and launched an investigation into the project's bidding process.
In October last year, the global lender requested the RCMP to launch an investigation against the Canadian company. The Canadian cops raided SNC-Lavalin's office in Oakville, Ontario, seized documents from there and arrested former chief executive Pierre Duhaime, Bangladeshi-born Canadian citizen Ismail Hossain and Indian-born Canadian citizen Ramesh Shah.
Ramesh, 61, was vice-president and Ismail, 48, was director of international projects at SNC-Lavalin in Toronto. The two will have to be in court for preliminary hearings in April next year.
Like the Canadian police, the ACC also launched an investigation in February this year. It also sought information from the World Bank and the Canadian police.
So far, it has questioned Abul Hasan Chowdhury, a former minister of state for foreign affairs, and Nixon Chowdhury, civil contractor and younger brother of parliament whip Noor-E-Alam Chowdhury. Several others are expected to be summoned soon.