Khaleda charged with Barapukuria graft

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The Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday finally submitted a charge sheet against former premier Khaleda Zia and 15 others, including 10 former ministers, in Barapukuria coalmine graft case.

ACC Deputy Director Abul Kashem Fakir, who had reinvestigated the case taking over from ACC Deputy Director Monirul Huq, submitted the charge sheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka, showing 34 people as prosecution witnesses.

The accused former ministers of BNP are M Saifur Rahman, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, M Shamsul Islam, MK Anwar, Barrister Aminul Haque, Altaf Hossain Choudhury, and AKM Mosharraf Hossain,

Former Jamaat ministers Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid and Motiur Rahman Nizami were also accused.

Nine of the accused former ministers were members of the cabinet purchase committee.

The other five accused are former acting secretary to the energy and mineral resources ministry Nazrul Islam, former Petrobangla chairman SR Osmani, former Petrobangla director Mainul Ahsan, former managing director of Barapukuria Coal Mine Company Ltd (BCMCL) Sirajul Islam, and Hosaf Group Chairman Moazzem Hossain.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia had been granted bail in the case from the High Court (HC) on September 10 this year for four months while Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, Shamsul Islam, and MK Anwar had been granted bail in the case from the same court till framing of charges against them.

The investigation officer (IO) also requested for showing Altaf Chowdhury and Dr Mosharraf Hossain arrested in the case as they had been arrested earlier in other cases, but yet to be shown arrested in Barapukuria graft case.

On September 25, the ACC approved the charge sheet against Khaleda and the other accused in connection with illegally awarding a contract for operating Barapukuria coalmine to a Chinese company.

On the charge sheet, the IO mentioned that the accused caused a loss of almost Tk 159 crore to the public exchequer by illegally awarding the contract to China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC), abusing their power.

The IO also mentioned that the charges brought against the accused were primarily proven and they will be brought to trial.

ACC Assistant Director Shamsul Alam filed the case with Shahbagh police station on February 26 this year.

FUGITIVES
The IO showed M Saifur, Motiur Rahman Nizami, Barister Aminul Haque, AKM Mosharraf Hossain, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid, Nazrul Islam, SR Osmani, Mainul Ahsan, Sirajul Islam, and Moazzem Hossain as fugitives in the case.

He also appealed to the court for issuance of arrest warrants against them, and for orders to confiscate their properties, as they did not obtain bail from any court.

THE CASE
Shandong Ludi Consortium was selected as the lowest bidder among three in an international tender for employing a contractor for production, management, and maintenance of Barapukuria coalmine in Dinajpur.

Suju Coal Mining Group Consortium was the second lowest bidder while China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC) consortium’s bid was the highest.

Following recommendations from a government committee on purchase, and approval of the erstwhile prime minister, an agreement for the work worth Tk 335.08 crore was signed between Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Ltd and Shandong Ludi Consortium on April 24, 2004.

Instead of submitting bank guarantees and performance guarantees as per the rules, Shandong came up with conditions irrelevant to the agreement. Among other irrelevant conditions they proposed raising the value of the contract.

Even though legally there was no room for allowing anything beyond the signed agreement, the energy and mineral resources ministry suggested that Petrobangla examines the proposals of Shandong, which caused delays.

The government did not go for re-tendering on grounds that there was not enough time for that.

Following manoeuvrings in favour of CMC, the company cut a deal with the government on June 4, 2005, 14 months after the deal with Shandong.

According to tender rules and Public Procurement Regulations 2003, the second lowest bidder, in this case Suju, was supposed to be awarded the job. But the deal went to CMC whose offer was over Tk 158 crore higher than Shandong’s.

Suju’s bid had been cancelled for not renewing its bid bond, but the company was later shown as an associate of CMC in the contract.

Khaleda Zia was accused in the case as she had been responsible for the ministry in question and any decision had been supposed to be taken with her full knowledge.

Hosaf Group did not participate in the bidding directly, it was the local agent of both the lowest and the highest bidders.

In fact, the Chinese companies worked in collaboration with each other throughout the tender, and Hosaf Group Chairman Moazzem Hossain used his connections to pull off the deal, the first information report of the case read.

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