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Tk 88cr misused in manpower bureau: ACC

Staff Correspondent
An Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) probe reveals that around Tk 88 crore of the expatriate welfare fund at the Bureau of Manpower Employment andTYaininghas been misused, wasted or misappropriated between 1999 and 2007.
Of the sums, Tk 35.30 crore was misused in a housing project in Gulshan, and Tk 52.14 crore was wasted trying to have a hostel constructed for the expatriates on a piece ofland not owned legally.
Speaking at a routine press briefing at his office yesterday afternoon, ACC Director General (Admin) Col Hanif Iqbal said these are findings of a preliminary enquir • by a special team of the anti-graft body.
Investigators have also unearthed that a former secretary and four ex-lawmakers illegally drewTk 13.79 lakh from the welfare fund at different times between 1999 and 2005.
Asked about names of those involved, Col Hanif said, “The matter is still at the stage of enquiry. We cannot give you any more details until a case is ready to be filed."
He said the ACC team would also seek to find out how corruption takes place in manpower export.
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The welfare fund has been constituted with remittances from Bangladeshi expatriates.
HOUSING PROJECT
The project was financed by the welfare fund and the money that the United Nations gave to Bangladeshi returnees from Iraq and Kuwait.
Taken up in May, 2004, it was meant to construct six buildings having500 apartments at Vatara in Gulshan.
The officials concerned evaded registration tax worth Tk 530crore in purchase of 151.54 -katha land under the project. They did it by showing the cost at Tk 18.18 crore against the genuineTk23.48crore.
The construction was supposed to be completed by May, 2007. But so far only two struc-tures--one three-storey and another two-storey--have been built.
Though Tk 35 crore has been paid to the two developers, work worth only Tk 5 crore has been done, suggesting a huge misuse.
HOSTELCOMPLEX
The manpower bureau purchased a 30-katha land in Eskaton from a real estate company with money from the welfare funds.
The bureau also struck a deal with the same company for constructing an 18-storey buildingon the land.
Since then, it had paid the realtor Tk 52.14 crore, but the hostel has yet to be opened for use.
The plot was part of the 82-decimal land that the land ministry leased out to Red Crescent Society in 1979 for building headquarters. But breaching the terms and conditions of the lease, Red Crescent sold 30 kathas of the land to the real estate company.
The spending of Tk 52.14 crore turned out to be a total waste of expatriates’ money as the land ministry cancelled the lease in 2008.