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Holy or less than an honest person?

Sharier Khan and Shakhawat Liton
It is a feeling of deja vu for Syed Abul Hossain. Twice he had been a minister of the Awami League government, and twice he had to resign in the face of allegations of corruption or irregularities.
But unlike in the 1990s, this time he resigned after significantly damaging the Padma Bridge project funding and the image of the government.
Earning an image of “less than an honest person", Syed Abul Hossain has time and again claimed that he is a victim of conspiracy and even blamed “a section of the press” for tainting his image. While talking to The Daily Star in recent times, he claimed to be a "holy person".
But his career as a cabinet member and politician has been repeatedly raising questions since he first became a state minister in 1996.
Hossain came into Awami League politics in the early 1990s as a successful businessman. His namesake company Sahco has remained as his political shadow and has given rise to many controversies.
As for the latest, the World Bank brought the allegation that Hossain, through Sahco, had approached different bidders in the Padma Bridge project asking for money in exchange for ensuring the job.
He had to resign from his position as state minister for Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) on August 10,1997, after his controversial visit to Singapore without the government's permission, using an ordinary passport instead of his diplomatic passport. The LGRD ministry is one of the top spenders of the government.
His dubious visit gave rise to criticism in the political and public domain. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina did not take much time to respond to public sentiments by dropping him from her council of ministers.
But this time, Hossain enjoyed much more blessings of the prime minister. He was made communications minister, in-charge of a vital ministry that looks after the country's infrastructure and deals with a lot of money.
His ministry's failure to repair roads and highways gave rise to widespread criticism in and outside parliament. In February last year, some veteran MPs of the ruling Awami League-led alliance excoriated him on his poor performance. In response, Abul wrote a letter to the PM, complaining against senior AL MP Tofail Ahmed. The next day, on February 7, 2011, when some MPs again started blasting him, Hasina took the floor and saved him. While doing so, she also criticised a section of newspapers for publishing "fake" reports to “malign" dignitaries.
As communications minister, Hossain did not care about the parliamentary standing committee on communications ministry much. Once the committee had asked his ministry to produce the tender documents related to the appointment of a consultant for the construction of Padma bridge. But Hossain refused to produce any document, questioning the committee's jurisdiction in demanding such documents. This response irked the committee and it expressed resentment over it.
Finally, he was mired in wide controversy regarding the appointment of a consultant for the construction of the Padma bridge. In the face of growing criticism, he was removed from the communications ministry. But blessed Abul did not need to resign from the cabinet. Rather, the prime minister created a new ministry, Information and Technology, for him. But his staying in the cabinet did not resolve the crisis. At one stage, the World Bank cancelled the Padma bridge loan agreement with the government, saying it had credible evidence of a high-level corruption conspiracy among Bangladeshi government officials.
Before he resigned as information and technology minister, he proclaimed his "honesty", "sincerity" and "integrity" by publishing advertisements in some dailies. Through the advertisement, he blamed a section of the press for the situation.
US Ambassador in Dhaka James F Moriarty termed Abul "a less than honest" man in his business dealings. According to diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks on August 30, 2011, Moriarty wrote the cables following a conversation with the minister at a dinner on February 3,2010.
Abul Hossain's company Sahco has always generated news, directly or indirectly, whenever the Awami League has been in power.
Founded in the mid-1970s, Sahco's business thrived mainly in the power sector as a local agent of foreign companies.
In 1998-2000, Sahco's involvement in land development for the first big private power project at Meghna ghat not only generated controversies, but also put a penalty unduly on the Power Development Board (PDB). At the time, Sahco represented a Chinese company that had been given the Tk 141 crore site development work. It was alleged that Hossain had influenced the government decision in getting the contract.
After a long delay, when the site was completed, the power company AES refused to take over the site, stating that it was substandard and that the developer had used cheap technology to make an extra profit ofTk25 crore.
As this led to a prolonged feud, the prime minister in 2000 resolved the matter through a meeting. Through this resolution, AES undertook the remedial work to improve the site, for which the PDB had to paj' up to $ 4.5 million. The Chinese company, however, was not penalised.
Sahco's influence in various power tenders returned soon after the Awami League came to power. This time, Abul Hossain told The Daily Star repeatedly that he had resigned from the company and that there was nothing wrong if the company on its own merit bagged contracts.
But according to sources, he influenced various power contracts. When a bidder represented by Sahco was totally unable to win a tender, he influenced the government in cancelling the tender.
Because of his influence, the government cancelled a 450MW power project tender in Siddhirganj once, and awarded the job recently through a re-tender to a joint venture company although it did not quite qualify.
Sahco is also involved with representing successful bidders in two other power projects in the last one year, 150MW Sirajganj and 150MW Khulna power projects. Each of the tender processes separately faced various allegations against the winning bidders.
In August 2009, Sahco's Chinese company also won a 150MW power project in Sylhet despite irregularities and a very high bidding price.
A 300MW power project in Ghorashal was foiled after three rounds of tender because of procedural anomalies in selecting the winning bidder represented by Sahco. Hossain played a key role in foiling the tender.
Abul Hossain openly opposed at a Cabinet meeting the award of a contract to a Chinese company in the Chandpur 150MW power project tender. The bidder represented by Sahco had failed to bag the job.