& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Full text of govt statement on Padma
Dear journalist friends of the print and electronic media:
The World Bank in a statement yesterday announced that it had cancelled the loan agreement signed with Bangladesh for the Padma Bridge financing. In the statement, the WB alleges that Bangladesh did not take appropriate steps to prevent a corruption-related conspiracy. It also claims it had sought the Bangladesh government's consent on three issues but did not get it.
In a brief statement yesterday, I expressed doubts about the rationale for the World Bank's issuing such a statement, which I think is unacceptable. I also said, "It is not correct when they say they have presented credible evidence about corruption in the Padma Bridge project and we did not take any step in this regard." Today I have invited you here to speak on this issue.
I also said that since the Jatiya Sangsad is in session I would speak there at length tomorrow. If there were a Sangsad session today, I would speak today. However, after the WB released its statement the mass media have been publishing various quasi-information and opinions. In this context, I feel it is my responsibility to make the matter clear. That is why I have invited you today and am presenting before you a brief written statement.
The World Bank is one of our friendly organisations. Since the country’s liberation, it has financed $1,680 crore against 251 projects and till now, WB credit worth $1,450 crore has remained unpaid. At present, 35 WB-financed projects with a total investment of $495 crore are being implemented in Bangladesh.
Initially, the WB financed projects in the road and communications sector, but it had refrained from financing this sector since fiscal year 2007-08 citing corruption during the last government's tenure. After the present government came to office, the WB in 2010 expressed its interest in financing the roads and communications sector, especially the Padma Bridge project.
On April 28, 2011, the World Bank signed an agreement with the government to be the principal co-financier in the $290-crore project with a $120-crore credit line. However, later it suspended financing, raising corruption
allegations against some officials involved in the project.
I have already stated that we have been continuing talks and exchanging letters with the WB for the last nine months and we have taken extraordinary steps to remove the lender's suspicions. In my concluding speech on the budget, I elaborately talked about the WB's interest in the project. The interest waned when theWB raised questions about the pre-qualification of our construction firm and put pressure in favour of a Chinese firm. It was found that the tactics of the Chinese firm was a fraud by their Bangladeshi subsidiary. When it was detected, the WB approved the prequalification of five construction firms. However, it seemed to us that delaying tactics were employed in the progression of the work of the bridge. And that was when our bad days began, a process thathasbeen continuing for the last nine months.
I have earlier told the media that we communicated our reaction after we received the first written complaint of corruption from the WB. In my budget speech, I said the WB had investigated seven instances of corruption in the country and sent recommendations to the caretaker government as well as our government. In none of the seven cases was project implementation halted. In light of that experience, I advised theWB last October to de-link the project implementation and the investigation process. But it did not accept that.
We have discussed more in this regard and taken more steps. For example, we have brought about a change in leadership in the bridge project. It seems the WB did not take those measures into cognisance. Instead, the bank recommended more investigation into the appointment of construction contractors. It focused its attention on the construction consultants.
The WB expressed its opinion in this regard to us last April and asked us to expedite the investigation, taking into consideration the work of the Canadian authorities. But in actuality, our Anti-Corruption Commission started its investigation in August last year. The ACC also sent its investigation report on construction contractors to the World Bank in February
this year. The bank suggested that the commission conduct more investigation in that case. Since these matters were under the jurisdiction of the ACC, we opted not to interfere. From time to time, we only enquired about the progress of the enquiry. We came to know that theWB had not provided any additional evidence in support of the accusations it made. The ACC has been carrying out the investigation in its own way.
At the time, a World Bank team at our invitation held separate talks with the Economic Relations Division and the ACC. We had elaborate discussions with the team on June 4 and we again requested them to detach the investigation from the implementation process.
As no tender is accepted in the implementation process without a no-objection from the development partners, we proposed to give them a bigger role in the implementation process and especially in the purchase activities.
TheWB on June 5 informed us about its position in writing and sought our consent on some matters. We communicated to it our opinion and measures on the matter on June 12. We also invited it for final discussions. On June 23, the WB sent another team to Dhaka for further discussions. The ERD and the ACC again held separate meetings with the team. This time the WB team wanted to reach an understanding with us on three points. It demanded a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the WB and Bangladesh. It also demanded that we give our consent to the Terms of Reference (ToR) with foreign consultants about the investigation of the ACC.
In order to reach an understanding with the WB and to keep the Padma Bridge project free of corruption we conceded many of the demands. Our aim was to settle the matter in a way so that (i) we would not have to sign any humiliating MoU for probable corruption (ii) the ACC would not accept any ToR with any foreign panel to maintain its independence. Instead, we sought to reach an understanding with the WB about project implementation and continuing the investigation through exchange of correspondence. With this aim, we softened our rules and accepted various
conditions of the WB along theway.
Despite all this, the way the World Bank has scrapped the credit agreement and issued a disgraceful statement is unexpected and mysterious. I think the WB should review this. Our executive director has been continuing talks with the WB in this regard. We will wait for their reconsideration.
And for this and for the sake of the ACC investigation, we will refrain from publishing the letters from the World Bank. However, so that no unnecessary and uncalled-for comments are made, we are handing you the letters we wrote to the WB about corruption. We have kept other financiers informed of our different measures and we hope they will analyse the WB step.
From my statement and these letters, you will find that we have made all-out efforts so that corruption does not occur. Therefore, the claims made in the World Bank's press note are not at all acceptable and right. Yet we have been continuing talks with the WB, as we want a proper solution to the matter.
I will speak more elaborately on it in the Jatiya Sangsad tomorrow and I will supply that [text] tp you. -