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Govt to sue Siemens over Koko graft

Md Hasan
The government has decided to take legal actions against Siemens Bangladesh Ltd, following the international scandal of bribery and money laundering involving Germany based industrial giant Siemens, and Arafat Rahman Koko, younger son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia.
The actions might include blacklisting of Siemens Bangaladesh Ltd, barring it from doing business in the country.
But it is still not clear whether similar actions are also warranted against Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), the new global joint telecoms division of Siemens and Finland based mobile phone manufacturing giant Nokia.
In July 2008, NSN was awarded a contract for expanding the network of government owned mobile phone service operator TeleTalk.
Out of about Tk 274 crore expansion deal, NSN got a contract worth Tk 184 crore, while the remaining Tk 90 crore deal went to China
based Huawei.
Earlier, Siemens Bangladesh got a contract of TO lakh mobile project' of Bangladesh Telephone and Telegraph Board (BTTB), which eventually morphed into TeleTalk.
Siemens Bangladesh Ltd already admitted that between May 2001 and August 2006 it made payments of at least $5,319,839 in bribes to various Bangladeshi officials and Koko through purported business consultants in exchange for favourable treatment during the bidding process for the contract of 10 lakh mobile project of BTTB.
The scandal first started to be unearthed during the formation of NSN in June 2006, as some discrepancies were found in Siemens' balance sheet, said an NSN high official.
As the scandal is getting bigger by the day, The Daily Star contacted the new telecom minister seeking comments on the issue.
"We are looking into all possible legal actions against Siemens Bangladesh and others who were involved in the scandal," said
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Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju, minister for post and telecommunication.
Asked if Siemens will be black listed in Bangladesh he said, "The government has already taken the issue very seriously as it is related to the country's image. After examining all sides we will consider whether Siemens will work in Bangladesh or not."
The law ministry already । litiated a move to find out the . etails ofthe irregularities that ilad taken place in the government owned mobile phone network project, he added.
Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman, post and telecommunications secretary, who is also the chairman of the TeleTalk board of directors, said, "If the government asks the board, we will look into the matter."
He however said the government's investigation is still going on. The Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) and other intelligence agencies are also investigating the international scam.
Meanwhile, NSN officials yesterday said they should not be blamed for the scandal as the illegal activities took place before the formation of new company.
"We are a newly registered company. We have no connection with the earlier practices of Siemens," said a high official ofthe company adding, "If the government wants to take any action, it should be against Siemens Bangladesh Ltd not against NSN."
"They spent a huge amount of money to pay bribes, without accounting for it properly in the company's balance sheet," he said adding, when such irregularities were noticed in Siemens headquarters in Germany, an investigation was launched unearthing the entire racket.
An NSN official, who had also worked as a high official of Siemens Bangladesh Ltd for six and a half years, claimed that the bribery deal was handled entirely by Siemens' Germany and Italy divisions.
"We had no idea about it, neither did we know the amount of the bribe or where it was transferred or deposited," he said adding, "Everything happened abroad, beyond our knowledge."
Since formation of NSN, at least 600 telecom wing officials of Siemens and Nokia got transferred to the Bangladesh dis ision of the new company.
The raging bribery and money laundering scandal has become a source of much discomfort for them, some of whom are also complaining about depression.
The NSN official said, "Sometimes we feel ashamed when we come face to face with our new colleagues who came from Nokia, as we are now known as former employees of an internationally known corrupt company."
The ACC on December 18 of last year with the help of Singapore government traced 20.61 lakh Singaporean dollars and 2.61 lakh US dollars in Koko's Singapore bank accounts, which are allegedly linked to the bribery.
The US Department of Justice recently moved to confiscate nearly $3 million from Koko's bank accounts in Singapore.
The justice department is currently seeking a forfeiture action against the accounts, said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division on Friday in Washington DC.
According to an international investigation the total amount of bribe money paid to Bangladeshi officials, politicians, and Koko was $200 million, which might even turn out to be much more upon further investigation.
An international delegation of investigators including an FBI agent was in Bangladesh recently, sharing evidence with local law enforcement agencies, and seeking help from them in recovering the laundered bribe money for handing it over to Bangladesh.
The delegation left Tuesday, saying FBI agents will frequently come and go for a while until the laundered money is recovered and handed over to the Bangladesh government.
Sources in the Attorney General's Office disclosed on Tuesday that more than 25 influential persons including former ministers of BNP-led four-party alliance government and some people of Hawa Bhaban, the erstwhile 'alternative power centre' during the regime, were also involved in the racket.
Involvement of Khaleda Zia's elder son Tarique Rahman who was known as the 'prince' of Hawa Bhaban, and of his business partner and close friend Giasuddln Al Mamun, were also alleged by the sources.