The government officials told the World Bank that prime minister’s adviser Mashiur Rahman is still on leave.
The global lender was irked by Mashiur’s claim that he has joined office on return from leave.
After a prolonged drama, Mashiur had to go on leave at the Bank’s insistence that all public officials including the adviser against whom allegations of corruption evidence have been raised should stay off office during investigation into the charges if the Padma bridge loan to be revived.
But on Thursday, Mashiur told reporters that he joined his position at the Prime Minister’s Office after a month of leave.
Sending him on leave was one of the key conditions of the Washington-based lender before it revived its $1.2billion loan.
Following his return, both the local office and the Washington office of the WB contacted several key government policymakers on Thursday and Friday to know about the current job status of Mashiur who told the Bank that he was still on leave.
An official of the WB said they are still confused about the latest development and would closely watch the situation.
Some government officials are claiming that Mashiur would not take part in any government activities even if he has joined the office.
But the WB official said they judge leave as leave where the on-leave individual would not go to office.
When the WB cancelled its loan in June this year, it was also because all the public officials, accused in the corruption charges, were not sent to leave, he told The Daily Star.
The WB has agreed to revive the loan after the government’s written commitment that it would meet all of its conditions, including sending all accused government officials to leave.
His return has surprised both top government officials and Awami League leaders, who criticised the adviser as his return could jeopardise the Padma bridge project, one of the key election promises of the ruling party.
In June, the World Bank cancelled its $1.2 billion loan for the bridge citing “corruption conspiracy”.
The global lender decided to revive its loan on September 21 after the Bangladesh government agreed to its terms and conditions. It then appointed a three-member external panel early last month to assess the conduct of the ACC investigation. The panel recently visited Dhaka.
Source: The Daily Star