DHAKA – Anti-Corruption Commission on Thursday expressed its apprehension about the future of the ACC case filed in connection with Padma bridge corruption conspiracy. The investigation into the case will remain incomplete without having the copy of Romesh Shah’s dairy.
ACC chairman M Bodiuzzaqman said this while talking to reporters at his office on Thursday.
He said ACC’s legal adviser Advocate Anisul Haque applied for Canadian visa.
“Now the future of the ACC case on Padma bridge scam conspiracy depends on the verdict of the Canadian court. They will not provide us copy of Romesh Shah’s dairy before the disposal of the case filed before the Canadian court. And there is no way to complete the investigation without the copy of that dairy,” he said.
ACC sources said the case would be put up before the Canadian court on September 9 and Advocate Anisul Haque would try to collect information by remaining presence at the court.
Earlier on December 17 last year, the ACC filed a case against seven persons including the former Bridge Division Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan and Superintendent Engineer Kazi M Ferdous for their alleged involvement in corruption conspiracy to bribe for appointing the Padma Bridge project consultant.
The other accused in the case are Executive Engineer Riaz Ahmed Jaber, Bangladesh agent of SNC-Lavalin Golam Mostafa and three SNC-Lavalin executives—Ramesh Saha, Kelvin Wallace and Mohammad Ismail–are living in Canada.
Former minister for communications Syed Abul Hossain and former state minister for foreign affairs Abul Hasan Chowdhury were kept in the list of suspects as the commission didn’t find any circumstantial evidence against them.
Meanwhile, the ACC on Thursday quizzed the managing director of ICL Group in connection with the alleged swindling of around Tk 1,000 crore of clients’ money by the Ideal Cooperative Society Limited, a sister concern of the ICL Group.
A five-member ACC team, led by its deputy director M Nasir Uddin, questioned ICL Group managing director NHM Shafiqur Rahman for about three hours at the commission’s head quarters in the city.
ACC Public Relations officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya told reporters that Shafiqur Rahman was quizzed for the first time on June 4 this year.
The ACC probe team also grilled ICL Group chairman M Rafiqul Alam and its nine directors M Saifuzzaman Marshal, M Anisur Rahman, Abul Hashem, ATM Khurshed Alam, M Ashraful Islam, Sheikh Ahmed, SM Morshed Jewel, M Fakhrul Islam and Kazi Shamsunnahar Mina on September 2-4.
According to newspaper reports, the Ideal Cooperative Society Limited collected money from some 20,000 clients across the country offering high interest rates during 2001-2012 and swindled the money.
