The government has suspended the chief engineer of the Department of Shipping, who was arrested while taking bribe in his office.
Fakhrul, also the ship surveyor at the department under the shipping ministry, was detained on Jul 18 from his office at the BIWTA Bhaban in Motijheel.
Fakhrul was arrested in an ACC operation while taking Tk 500,000 as bribe for approving a ship’s design.
He has also been remanded for questioning in a case filed with Motijheel Police Station by ACC Assistant Director Md Abdul Wadud.
According to the Inland Shipping Ordinance of 1976, a ship design that meets prescribed standards should be approved within 45 days of its application.
But chief shipping engineer Fakhrul had been demanding bribes from Tk 500,000 to Tk 1.6 million to approve 22 ship designs by Bengal Marine and Engineers Services since 2012, with the bribe amount varying on the sizes of the vessels, according to the ACC case.
On Apr 13, Bengal Marine submitted a design for ‘MV Laofel Lihan’, but Fakhrul asked its official ANM Badrul Alam to hand over Tk 500,000 as bribe.
The ACC, after receiving Alam’s complaint, formed a 11-member team to set a trap for the chief shipping engineer at his office.
Source: bdnews24