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Graft-talkers are wrong

Abul laughs offallegation at anti-graft office

Staff Correspondent
Former communications minister Syed Abul Hossain yesterday claimed that there was no corruption or irregularities in the Padma bridge project.
" My conscience is clear and I am clean before the Most Merciful Allah.... Those who are talking about corruption
and irregularities in the Padma bridge project are wrong," he told newsmen after facing interrogation by an enquiry team of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) at its Segunbagicha office.
A two-member ACC team led by its Deputy Director Mir Md Zainul Abedin Shebly grilled Abul for around two hours regarding his involvement in the alleged corruption in the appointment of a consultant for the scheme.
Terming the World Bank's graft allegations baseless, he said, "There was a so-called transaction of $35 million regarding the appointment of a consultant for the project, SEE PAGE 6 COL 1
FROM PAGE 1 whereas the tender was worth $37 million. You all would understand that the allegation of bribing somebody $35 million is totally untrue and baseless."
Abul also distributed a written statement among the journalists refuting all the allegations brought against him.
After the WB raised allegations of huge corruption in the estimated $2.9 billion project, the ACC in June last year launched two enquiries — one into the construction of the bridge and another into the appointment of the Canadian consultancy firm SNC-Lavalin.
In the first enquiry, the ACC did not find any proof of corruption, while the second enquiry has been going on.
According to the allegations, Canadian company SNC-Lavalin had offered at least six influential Bangladeshis, including Abul Hossain, huge bribes to
win the consultancy contract of the project.
With the interrogation of Abul Hossain, the anti-graft watchdog is now at the final stage of its enquiry into the alleged graft, ACC Commissioner Md Badiuzzaman told journalists.
"The commission is now waiting for the enquiry report. If the allegations against the former communications minister are substantiated, the ACC will take legal action against him."
The ACC, he said, is yet to take any decision on whether to quiz prime minister's economic affairs adviser Mashiur Rahman or not. The commission will decide about it only after receiving the enquiry report.
Badiuzzaman also claimed that the WB in its report did not mention Mashiur1 s name.
Abul Hossain was removed from the communications ministry and was made information and
communications technology (ICT) minister on December 5 last year.
The government also sent on leave former secretary of the Bridges Division Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan.
The WB in June cancelled its $1.2 billion loan for the project citing concerns over corruption in the project.
On July 23, Abul resigned as the ICT minister amid pressure from within and outside the government. His resignation was accepted a month later.
He is among nearly two dozen people quizzed by the ACC in connection with the alleged graft.
Among the others grilled are former state minister for foreign affairs Abul Hasan Chowdhury, parliament Whip Nur-e-Alam Chowdhury's brother Nixon Chowdhury, Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan and three officials of Engineering and Planning Consultant Ltd -- the Bangladeshi agent of SNC-Lavalin.