The Canadian police have pressed charges against former State Minister for Foreign Affairs Abul Hasan Chowdhury over the alleged corruption in Padma bridge project.
Canadian construction giant SNC-Lavalin’s former officials Kevin Wallace, 46, Ramesh Shah, 62, and Mohamad Ishmail, 50, and Canadian citizen Zulfiquar Ali Bhuiyan are the others who have been charged.
None of the allegations, however, have been proven in court.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said in a statement on Wednesday that the charges related to an investigation into awarding a contract for supervision and consultancy services of the construction of Padma bridge.
According to a report of Canada’s Financial Post, SNC-Lavalin’s ex-senior executive Wallace, hailing from Oakville, Ontario, has been released with conditions and a promise to appear in court.
SNC-Lavalin is accused of adopting unfair and illegal means to secure the consultancy of the $2.9 billion Padma bridge project.
According to the Financial Post report, Wallace, in the suit filed earlier this year, alleged that he was fired as president of SNC-Lavalin’s subsidiary Candu as part of a “public relations strategy intended to create the impression that they were taking action in response to widespread allegations of civil and criminal wrongdoing” by SNC-Lavalin.
In his lawsuit, Wallace claimed he did not participate in or become aware of any wrongdoing by others at SNC in relation to the Padma project.
The report quoted RCMP Assistant Commissioner Gilles Michaud as saying: “In some countries, bribes are still accepted as a necessary part of doing business. However, bribery raises serious moral and political concerns, undermines good governance and sustainable economic development, and distorts the conditions of international competition.”
The World Bank suspended its $ 1.2 billion fund pledged for Padma bridge amidst allegations of corruption in Bangladesh’s largest-ever infrastructure project.
The move was taken after Canadian authorities drew the global lender’s attention to the ‘corruption’ in the project involving senior Bangladeshi government officials.
Source: Bd news24