Retracting from his earlier statement, ex-secretary of Bridges Division Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan has told the ACC in custody that he made all decisions on the Padma bridge project in consultation with “higher authorities” in an oblique reference to ex-minister Syed Abul Hossain.
But long before his arrest on December 26 in the Padma bridge corruption case, Mosharraf had claimed that he took the decisions on his own without consulting his then boss.
Former communications minister Abul Hossain also made similar claims before a team of the Anti-Corruption Commission, which was conducting enquiry into corruption allegations in the project.
Mosharraf has been accused of “deliberately dissolving” and forming four times the evaluation
committee for selecting a supervision consultant in the bridge project. But his boss Abul Hossain was mysteriously exempted from ACC's accusation.
During an interrogation by the ACC, Mosharraf, without naming Abul Hossain, said he consulted his boss every time before dissolving and reconstituting the tender evaluation committee in the project, said an ACC source yesterday.
Mosharraf said he did everything in a proper way and maintained all official procedures.
He told the ACC team that he did nothing on his own regarding the reconstitution and dissolution of the evaluation committee in the project.
Meanwhile, a three-member ACC team went to Bangladesh Bridge Authority office in the capital yesterday, and seized computer hard drives and all documents relating to the bridge project.
Following a year-long enquiry into the corruption allegations in the project, the ACC on December 17 sued seven people for conspiring to commit bribery.
The ACC source said the ACC team obtained some important information from Mosharraf and another accused Kazi Mohammad Ferdous, superintending engineer of Bangladesh Bridge Authority.
Mosharraf and Ferdous were placed on seven days' remand after they were arrested on December 27 in connection with the Padma bridge corruption case.
The two officials have been kept in police custody — Mosharraf at Dhanmondi Police Station and Ferdous at Shahbagh Police Station.
Wishing anonymity, an ACC official said, “We are now interrogating them separately. We also seized documents relating to the project from Bangladesh Bridge Authority office.”
They will later face an ACC team and have to verify the information they gave to the commission, said the official.
The ACC found that Mosharraf did not act, despite learning that Nahid Alam, a consultant of Bangladesh Bridge Authority, was named a consultant of Canadian company SNC Lavalin in its bid proposal.
Nahid worked as a BBA consultant while the process of evaluating the consulting firm for the project was going on.
The official, however, did not say whether any step will be taken against Nahid.
The WB cancelled its $1.2 billion funding on June 29 this year, saying it had proof of a “corruption conspiracy” involving Bangladeshi officials, executives of a Canadian firm and some individuals.
The global lender on September 21 decided to revive the loan after the Bangladesh government agreed to the WB's terms and conditions.
Source: The Daily Star
