ACC Commisioner M.Shahabuddin told journalists that the World Bank has provided an “overall reaction” which should cause no despondency.
“We have reasons to believe the World Bank is happy with our work,” said Shahabuddin, adding that the letter was received three days ago.
This is the first official reaction from the World Bank after the ACC initiated the cases on Dec 17 against those accused for “conspiring to exchange bribes” for awarding consultancy to a Canadian company in the Padma Bridge project.
The future of the Padma bridge project now depends on the World Bank’s “external panel” which was set up to monitor the ACC investigations.
Only if this panel is satisfied with the progress of the investigation will the World Bank agree to fund what is Bangladesh’s largest infrastructure project till date.
Asked about the detailed content of the World Bank letter, Shahabuddin said: “If we summarise the content of their letter, what transpires is that they are prepared for more cooperation in the investigations.”
“You should explain more clearly your regulations and your public procurement policies,” is what the World Bank has apparently told the ACC in the letter.
The ACC has been told that the World Bank’s “external panel” may visit Dhaka again in near future. This panel headed by Luis Gabriel Moreno Ocampo has already visited Bangladesh twice after the ACC started their investigations – the last time in early December.
The World Bank stopped its proposed funding of $ 1.2 billion for the 6-km-long Padma bridge project after allegations of corruption surfaced. The overall cost of the project is $ 2.9 billion.
Though the global lender reviewed its decision later and said it will consider funding, it said it will do so only if satisfied with the investigations into the allegations of corruption. To monitor the investigations, the external panel was constituted.
The ACC has said that though they have no evidence of bribes, they have found traces of a ‘conspiracy to exchange bribes’ involving seven persons that included senior officials and executives of Canadian company SNS-Lavalin.
The former secretary (Bridges) Mosharraf Hossain has been charged as the prime accused in the case by the ACC.bdnews24.com
