A case alleging corruption in the Padma Bridge project was filed without documentary evidence following World Bank pressure, outgoing chief of Bangladesh’s anti-graft body has said.
‘It was not right (to file the case),” Md Badiuzzaman said at his farewell function organised by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Sunday.
“We filed the case for the sake of the country, so that it could get the Padma Bridge fund cleared,” he explained.
“But we proved in the investigation that the allegation was false. The accused were acquitted,” he said.
The World Bank was to give a loan of $1.2 billion for the project but backed out following differences with the government over investigations into allegations of corruption.
At the urgings of the World Bank, the ACC filed a case naming seven people. The prime suspect was former Bridges Division secretary Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan.
The six others were Superintending Engineer (River training) of the Bridge Authority Kazi Mohammad Ferdous, Roads and Highways Department Executive Engineer (Bridge Construction and Maintenance Division-4) Riaz Ahmed Zaber and four officials of SNC-Lavalin.
The lender banned the Canadian firm, SNC-Lavalin, for 10 years from projects it funded because of its “misconduct” in the Padma Bridge project.
Bangladesh finally decided to go ahead by mobilising its own funds.
Source: Dhaka Tribune