The Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Ghulam Rahman has said that “national interest” will be ensured in its response to the World Bank, which is expected take place within the next 24 hours.
Rahman’s comments came after the contents of the latest communication from the WB to the ACC over alleged corruption in the Padma bridge project was published in the media and the anti-corruption body sought to clarify certain points.
Talking to journalists at the ACC headquarters on Sunday, Rahman said: “I haven’t signed any letter (clarification letter), but the letter will be sent to the World Bank panel within a certain period of time.”
“Undoubtedly, the letter is important; but what is more important is the report of the World Bank panel. National interest will be ensured while sending the letter.”
Rahman didn’t specify what he meant by ” within a certain period of time”, but the ACC’s chief counsel Anisul Huq told journalists that “the letter will be sent in the next 24 hours”.
“We have finalised a reply to their letter (raising some points to be clarified by the ACC). It contains answers to all their (World Bank) questions. It will be sent in the next 24 hours,” Huq said.
The letter sent by the World Bank’s external panel, formed to oversee the ACC probe into the alleged corruption in the Padma bridge project, was published in various news outlets on Jan 15.
In their letter sent to the ACC, the panel termed the case filed against “graft conspiracy” in the Padma bridge project a positive step, but raised some points about its investigation.
The letter, sent by the panel chief Gabrial Louis Moreno, made it clear that it was unhappy over the exclusion of the former Communication Minister Abul Hossain’s name from the list of graft accused.
The ACC Chairman earlier cited unavailability of documentary evidence as the reason behind non-inclusion of Hossain’s name.
Asked about the steps the anti-graft body might take against Hossain, Huq said, “Inquiry is going on. I don’t want to comment on this right at this moment.”
Construction of the 6-km-long bridge was halted following allegation of corruption in the $2.9 billion project. The World Bank was supposed to provide $1.2 billion to the project until it pulled out of the contract alleging corruption.
The global lender returned after months of negotiation and speculation on a number of conditions, including that the allegation would be probed neutrally and be watched over by a panel appointed by them.
The bank will finalise its financing decision on the findings of its panel. The panel visited Dhaka twice since it was constituted for the purpose. During the second time it was apparently dissatisfied over the list of accused in the graft case.
The ACC filed the case against seven on Dec 17 last year. The World Bank panel wrote to the ACC after examining the case documents on Jan 9.bdnews24.com
