No big name except Abul

WB hands Muhith its final report on Padma graft conspiracy

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In its final report, the World Bank’s external panel has mentioned only the name of ex-communications minister Syed Abul Hossain as a high-profile corruption suspect in the Padma bridge project.
The panel expressed dissatisfaction at Abul’s exclusion from the First Information Report filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission, and said the ACC was not probing the Padma bridge corruption allegations in a free and fair manner.
However, the panel did not mention the names of any other high-profile individuals as corruption suspects in or outside the government.
The names of high-profile persons surfaced as corruption suspects at different times, and the main opposition BNP alleged that relatives of the prime minister had been involved in corruption in the bridge project.
Newly appointed WB Country Director Johannes Zutt yesterday handed over the panel’s final report on the conduct of the ACC probe to Finance Minister AMA Muhith at the latter’s secretariat office in the capital.
In its 10-page report, the panel made a number of recommendations that include incorporating Abul’s name in the list of suspects in order to make the ACC probe transparent, according to sources.
The panel’s final observation was almost similar to what it had mentioned in its letter to the anti-graft watchdog in January, said the sources.
The details of the final report could not be known.
In January, Luis Moreno Ocampo, chairman of the WB’s external panel of experts, wrote to the ACC chairman, and conveyed the panel’s unhappiness over the ACC probe.
The letter stated, “The panel assessed that at least four individuals working for the government of Bangladesh, including the former communications minister, should be named as accused in the FIR”.
“I do not know whether it will be published or not. But, of course they [WB] will publish it on their website. Yes, I permitted the World Bank to post it on its website,” Muhith told reporters at a briefing after a meeting with WB officials.
Sources said the WB might release the report in a week.
Talking to journalists at his secretariat office, Muhith said no corruption had taken place in the Padma bridge project.
“It is a case of corruption conspiracy.” Only the BNP believed that corruption took place in the bridge project, said the finance minister.
Asked whether he was absolutely sure that there was no corruption in the project, Muhith confidently said no graft took place in the project.
“The conspiracy of corruption is not corruption,” he said.
But when journalists again asked him whether conspiracy was an offence or not, Muhith seemed a bit puzzled, and said the ACC was investigating it.
Punishment might be handed out for committing conspiracy, said Muhith. But he did not elaborate.
ACC Commissioner Mohammad Shahabuddin told The Daily Star, “We heard that the World Bank had submitted its final report but we have not been officially informed about it.”
Asked whether the ACC would take into account the WB panel’s recommendations, he said, “We may draw inference from the data in the report, if necessary.”

Source: The Daily Star

1 COMMENT

  1. Mr Muhith accepts that there was an conspiracy for corruption, but in his view there was no corruption. This is ridiculous. It is not only the BNP but the whole country except a few die hard
    AL leaders and their cohorts who believe that there was a crime committed. If any conspiracy to commit murder or to overthrow the government is a punishable crime, why the ‘conspiracy for corruption’ in the Padma Bridge saga is not a crime as implied by the finance minister?
    The fact is: the current finance minister is the worst the country has ever had in its 42 years history. He has presided over the worst financial scandals including those involving the Destiny group, share market loot, Padma Bridge, foreign deals, etc.
    Mr Muhith has recently presented the national budget for 2013-14. Has there been any review or assessment about the actual performances and corrupt practices during the implementation of the last budget (2012-13)?
    Mr Muhith would not like it, but everybody knows that corruption (both financial and moral) is the base on which the whole system stands. You remove corruption and the system collapses.

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