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Furnace Oil Scam

BPC detects lax monitoring

Dwaipayan Barua and Md Fazlur Rahman
The top management of Padma Oil Company Ltd littie bothered to monitor activities of its officials, allowing them to resort to irregularities in selling furnace oil in Chittagong, finds a probe of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).
"The managing director should have supervision over what his officials are doing. But he did not monitor their activities properly and the irregularities took place," said a source close to the investigation of the BPC.
The disclosure comes as the three-member probe body completed investigation yesterday. It may submit the findings to the BPC chairman in Dhaka today.The probe body in its investigation found the members of Padma Oil's sales committee on furnace oil “responsible” for the May 20 incident, which saw about 3.4 lakh litres on the way to blackmarket before Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) thwarted the theft.
It also recommended punitive action against the sales committee members.
On the night, Rab members seized 11 tank-lorries and an oil tanker loaded with the fuel from the port city's Anu Majhir Ghat area.
BPC Director (marketing) Mohammad Nurul Alam confirmed The Daily Star that they prepared the report and would submit it to the BPC chairman.
The probe body recommended that all the oil companies should have particular policy for the sale of furnace oil “in order to check irregularities in the future".
Alam declined to disclose further details.
It also suggested that the users of furnace oil have to be enlisted while the oil companies should sell furnace oil only to their enlisted companies including mills, factories and other installations.
Following the May 20 haul, it was found that the huge shipment of furnace oil was bound for companies who had used the names, fake logos and papers of big companies to buy the fuel illegally.
"It was found that the sales committee unilaterally approved the applications for furnace oil from local companies. The management of Padma Oil did not take the issue seriously," said the source close to the probe.
"As a result, it gave scope to the three-member sales committee to resort to corruption," the source added.
On May 31, Padma Oil took departmental action against four of its officials including three members of the sales committee and one of its former members in connection with the smuggling.