Bangladesh News

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday pressed charges against detained former premiere and Awami League (AL) chief Sheikh Hasina and seven others in connection with Tk 3 crore graft case during the setting up of 100MW barge-mount power plant in Khulna.

The ACC yesterday also approved the filing of first information report (FIR) against eight persons including former state minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar, former health minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and former Awami League (AL) lawmaker Mirza Azam on charges of amassing illegal wealth and concealing information of their wealth.

ACC director general Col Hanif Iqbal during a regular press briefing at the ACC headquarters confirmed journalists about the approval of the charge sheet and the filing of the FIR.

Morshed Alam, deputy director of the ACC and the investigation officer (IO) of the Tk 3-crore graft case, submitted the charge sheet to Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court. In addition to the seven persons accused in the FIR earlier, name of Bangabandhu Memorial Trust (BMT) curator Sayed Siddiqur Rahman was also included in the charge sheet.

Besides Hasina and BMT curator Siddique, six others persons in the charge sheet are former energy secretary Dr Toufiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, former Power Development Board (PDB) chairman Noor Uddin Mahmud Kamal, Managing Director of Summit Industries and Mercantile Corporation Private Ltd Aziz Khan and Director Farid Khan, United Group Chairman Hasan Mahmud Raja and Director Abul Kalam Azad.

ACC Deputy Director Sabbir Hasan lodged the case with Tejgaon Police Station on September 2, complaining that Hasina and the six others, through their mutual understanding and using their influence, helped a foreign company and its local partners win a deal for setting up the 100MW barge-mount power plant in Khulna and thus deprived the lowest bidder from being awarded the deal.

The case was filed under Sections 161, 163, 164, 165, 165 (a)/109 of the Penal Code and 5 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947. Later, the ACC brought the case under Emergency Power Rules. If the charges are proved, the accused face sentences ranging from life term to one-year imprisonment.

THE GRAFT CASE
According to the FIR, the government on October 14, 1996 approved the private sector power generation policy and the PDB invited an international tender on October 24 of the same year to commission three barge-mount power plants at Haripur, Shikalbaha and in Khulna within eight to 10 months.

A total of 15 firms submitted 25 tenders, 18 of which were qualified primarily.

Although New England Power Company consortium proposed the lowest tariffs, the company was not awarded the work order.

The case statement said the accused ignored the lowest bidder’s tariff rate of 4.59 cents per kilowatt-hour and fixed it at 5.10 cents per kilowatt-hour for three months and 5.82 cents per kilowatt-hour for the rest of the agreement period.

Hasina approved the deal in connivance with the other accused to serve the interest of a special quarter in a well-planned way through deception.

Arrangement to smuggle foreign currencies was made by allowing Wartsila to import oil that caused a huge loss to the country.

Four of the accused, Mohammad Aziz Khan, Mohammad Farid Khan, Hasan Mahmud Raja and Abul Kalam Azad, paid Tk three crore out of Tk 6.50 crore in eight cheques/ pay orders to Bangabandhu Memorial Trust for the purchase of a two-storey building and 19.11 kathas of land at Dhanmondi for the trust.

The cheques/ pay orders were issued between October 7, 1997 and November 24 of the same year. The accused paid the money on behalf of the owners of Wartsila and it’s local business partners Summit group and United group.