Bangladesh News

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday said the court will decide about accepting the independent opinion a chartered accountants’ (CA) firm gave regarding installation of the 100-megawatt oil-fired barge-mount Khulna power plant.

Meanwhile, a High Court (HC) bench yesterday appointed seven senior Supreme Court lawyers as Amicus Curiae [friend of the court] to assist the court voluntarily. They would assist the HC on a point of law during ongoing hearing of the rule issued following a writ filed by Sheikh Hasina challenging bringing the extortion case against her under the Emergency Power Rules (EPR).

The ACC yesterday also decided to issue notices on four persons including former deputy minister for food Asadul Habib Dulu, and former BNP MP Dewan Salauddin, who were listed as graft suspects on the fourth list published on October 4, asking to submit their wealth statement.

Director General (Admin) Col Hanif Iqbal replying to a question regarding opinion of the CA firm said the charge sheet was submitted in the case according to existing rules and laws.

“The evidence produced in connection with the case was gathered through investigation and the matter is now in the court. The court will decide about the report,” Hanif told reporters during a routine briefing at the ACC headquarters.

Contradicting the case filed against seven including former prime minister Sheikh Hasina by ACC on September 2 last year, Chartered Accountants and Management and Tax Consultants SF Ahmed & Co, in its opinion has recently said Wartsila-Summit group was the lowest bidder in the tender for installation of the power plant.

The ACC in the case accused that the then prime minister Hasina and six others through mutual understanding and use of influence helped Wartsila-Summit group win the bid depriving the lowest bidder — New England Power Company (NEPC).

The CA firm reviewing the project’s bid documents gave its opinion that NEPC was wrongly rated as the lowest bidder.

The Summit Industrial and Mercantile Corporation approached SF Ahmed & Co on September 13 to give its professional opinion on selection of the lowest bidder from among the bids received in response to Request For Proposal (RFP) for the Khulna plant and the government policy on import of fuel for it. The firm completed its report on September 18.

EXTORTION CASE
Hasina filed the writ with the HC last year challenging the government move to bring the Tk 2.99 crore extortion case filed by businessman Azam J Chowdhury under the EPR.

The HC issued a rule on the government to explain why bringing it under the EPR should not be declared illegal. The hearing on the rule started last week.

The seven lawyers who have been appointed as Amicus Curiae are TH Khan, Mahmudul Islam, Mahbubur Rahman, Rafiqul Islam Mia, Mahbubey Alam, Monsurul Huq Chowdhury and Abdur Rab Chowdhury.

Azam filed the case against former cabinet minister Sheikh Fazlul Karim and Hasina accusing them of taking about Tk 2.99 crore in return for allowing him to set up a power plant during the AL rule in 1996-2001 on September 13 last year.

Sheikh Rehana was also charged with taking a portion of the extorted money in the supplementary charge sheet. Rehana is being tried in absentia as she lives in London.

ACC Notices
The other two be served with ACC notices are Hossain Ahammad, deputy assistant director, Habiganj passport office, and Sayed Abdul Bashir, office assistant, sub-registry office, Habiganj.

With these, the ACC has so far served notices on 16 out of the 35 from the fourth list of graft suspects.

The ACC has also decided not to file non-submission case against AL presidium member Sajeda Chowdhury and informed her about the decision in a letter.

Meanwhile, the ACC yesterday approved submitting charge sheet against six including the Daily Janakantha editor Atik Ullah Khan Masud and his wife Shamima A Khan for amassing wealth beyond known sources of income and concealing information.

In the charge sheets, Masud and his wife would be accused of amassing Tk 54.58 lakh and concealing wealth worth about Tk 1.3 crore.

Charge sheet will also be submitted against former engineer AFM Manjurul Islam, his wife Akter Zahan Ruby, former deputy general manager of Bapex Nurul Islam and assistant manager of Bapex Alamgir Kabir.