Says ACC boss on Padma bridge graft
The latest developments on the Canadian side regarding the Padma bridge graft allegation will help the investigation being conducted by the Anti-Corruption Commission in Bangladesh, its chairman said yesterday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Wednesday brought bribery charges under Canada’s Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act against ex-state minister Abul Hasan Chowdhury and Canadian Kevin Wallace, former senior vice-president of SNC-Lavalin International Inc (SLII), a division based in Oakville, Ont, which has recently been disbanded.
Also charged is Zulfiquar Ali Bhuiyan, a Canadian citizen having business ties with Bangladesh.
“Though we did not mention him [Abul Hasan Chowdhury] as an accused in the Padma bridge graft allegation case, his name was included as a suspect in the case,” ACC Chairman Mohammad Badiuzzaman told reporters after addressing a meeting in Rangpur city, reported our Rangpur correspondent.
Two lower-level SNC-Lavalin employees, Mohammad Ismail and Ramesh Shah, have already been facing trial in Toronto on similar allegations that they conspired to pay bribes to help SNC-Lavalin win a supervising contract worth $50 million in the Padma Bridge mega project.
The ACC chief also said that while filing the graft allegation case in December last year, the investigation officers did not have sufficient evidence to accuse former state minister for foreign affairs Abul Hasan and former communications minister Syed Abul Hossain.
“The case investigation is still going on, and if we find substantial evidence against the duo, they will be accused” he added.
Regarding the accusation by Canadian police, former state minister Abul Hasan told reporters yesterday that he was yet to get the news officially.
He also said a Canadian broadcasting corporation had asked him about the matter and he told it that he was surprised by the Canadian move. He had introduced SNC Lavalin men to the former communications minister but with no bad intention, Abul Hasan said.
Source: The Daily Star
