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WB asked for removal of minister

Cites govt letter

Staff Correspondent
The government yesterday released a set of letters it had earlier sent to the World Bank on the Padma bridge issue.
In one of the letters, Iqbal Mahmood, senior secretary at the Economic Relations Division, said the WB President for South Asia had communicated to the finance minister that the bank would resume the project if two officers and the minister in charge (Syed Abul Hossain] were moved out.
The government assured the global lender that it would take action against the officials allegedly involved in corruption in the Padma bridge project.
The finance minister made available the letters at a press conference at his office in the secretariat.
” We have refrained from disclosing the letters from the World Bank, as we wait for the global lender to reconsider
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its decision and also for the sake of the ongoing ACC probe," he said.
MUHITH'S LETTER ON OCTOBER 18,2011
In the letter, Muhith told WB President Robert Zoellick that Bangladesh would act promptly on the integrity vice presidency (INT) allegation and seek to resolve the problem rapidly with the WB's cooperation.
He said Bangladesh assured all development partners that it would retain the highest standard of integrity and transparency in the implementation of the Padma bridge project.
"The government [Bangladesh) sticks to this position and believes that the WB under your leadership will be helpful in allowing us to implement a dream project as expeditiously as possible," the finance minister told Zoellick.
Muhith referred to his communication with the WB vice president for South Asia on a short-listing of bridge contractors and pointed out that it was held up because of some spurious complaints. The finance minister said, “The WB took note of my submission and approved the short list.”
"I am mentioning this case only to emphasise that discontented parties in tender bids are prone to bring up baseless allegations of corruption and injustice. In this case, there was clear forgery,” he wrote to Zoellick.
MUHITH'S LETTER ON JUNE 12,2012
In his letter to Zoellick, the finance minister said the government could associate external experts in assisting and advising in the investigation process, as suggested by the Washington-based lender.
IQBAL'S LETTER ON JUNE 26,2012
In the letter to the WB Vice President for South Asia, Isabel M Guerrero, Iqbal Mahmood said the existing law for the Anti-Corruption Commission would not allow any agency to get involved directly in its enquiry process.
Instead, the ACC agreed to extend its full support to the WB regarding enquiry and investigation into the corruption allegations in the project, he said.
The letter read that the ACC was ready to give the WB full access to all materials, documents, and other information gathered by the enquiry team that the ACC had appointed in accordance with the act and the rules.
It said, “The ACC's draft agreement of cooperation would be very helpful and effective, and at the same time ensure integrity to find out sufficient evidence against officials for wrongdoing and will allow the government to take action without any delay.”
Iqbal said since the WB's June 5 letter referred clearly to "officials", not "ministers", the government agreed to take action against only the officials.
“The action against the ministers would essentially await preliminary findings of the ACC,” he said.
IQBAL'S LETTER ON JUNE 28,2012
In a last-ditch attempt to convince the WB to resume the project, Iqbal wrote a letter to Isabel Guerrero a day before the WB cancelled the funding of the project.
He mentioned that the WB vice president for South Asia "suggested in a private conversation with the Honorable Finance Minister, that if the two
officers and the minister in charge were moved out, the Bank would resume the project."
“The Honorable Prime Minister was reluctant to take action against the high-level public officials without actionable evidence, but in the larger interest of the country, and in order not to jeopardise her electoral commitment, used her routine cabinet reshuffle to adjust the portfolios to meet the Bank's demand.”
“As there is no time to be lost and the matter is one of life and death to our people, and since it seems to me that there has developed distrust between the two parties, I shall be candid and perhaps more blunt than is normal,” read the letter.
The three-page letter shed light on several issues, including the WB's demand for an agreement to allow WB's independent legal advisers to carry out an examination on the conduct of the enquiry.
It said the government had already informed the WB team that the ACC was ready to cooperate on all points as demanded by the WB. But the ACC as a statutory body could not sign any terms of reference with any outside agency.
IQBAL'S LETTER ON JUNE 29,2012
In the letter to Guerrero, Iqbal said the government agreed to take action against all individuals believed or alleged to have been involved in corruption in the project on the basis of the enquiry and recommendations of the ACC (which would be assisted by the WB).
He said the government agreed to accept the WB's expert panel comprised of three individuals and also terms of reference for the panel.
GOVT LETTERS TO WB - PAGE 13