Breaking Nexus of The Corrupt

Five engrs, contractor, UP chairman sued in 2 dists

15 November 2009, 17:00 PM

Star National Desk

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed two separate cases in Moulvibazar and Barisal districts against five engineers, a contractor and a UP chairman on charge of misappropriating public fund worth about Tk 16 lakh. ACC Assistant Director Sajal Kumar Chakravarty on Tuesday night filed a case with Kulaura Police Station in Moulvibazar district against three engineers of Power Development Board (PDB) and a contractor for misappropriating over Tk 8 lakh, reports our Moulvibazar correspondent. Dhaka-based firm Zaman Construction was appointed through tender procedure to construct the office building and boundary wall of the PDB office in Kulaura upazila in 2006. The bidding cost was Tk 11 lakh 62 thousand 886. But Tk 3 lakh 37 thousand 792 was spent in the work and Shamsuzzaman, proprietor of Zaman Construction, with the connivance of three PDB engineers misappropriated rest Tk 8 lakh 25 thousand and 94 through submitting false bills and vouchers, goes the ACC case statement. The accused PDB offcials are Ratan Kumar Biswas, former executive engineer of PDB Moulvibazar office, Irfanul Haque, former resident engineer of PDB Kulaura office and Jamshed Alam, former sub-assistant engineer of the same office. Earlier following an allegation filed with the ACC head office in Dhaka, the ACC conducted an investigation and found the allegation true. Our Barisal correspondent reports: Tayeb Hossain, upazila engineer, Rafiqul Islam, sub-assistant engineer of LGED, and Amir Hossain Akon, chairman of Bhasanchar union parishad under Mehendiganj upazila of Barisal district have been made accused in the ACC case for misappropriating Tk 7.96 lakh. Abdur Rahim Joardar, assistant director of Barisal ACC office, filed the case with Mehendiganj Police Station on Tuesday night. According to the case, the local UP chairman applied to LGED for immediate dismantling of a 38 metre-long iron bridge across Bagmara canal, constructed by upazila LGED costing about Tk 18 lakh in 2001-02, to save its materials from erosion in 2007, said the officer-in-charge (OC) of Mehendiganj Police Station. Without visiting the spot and calculating the weight and market value of the materials, the LGED officials asked the UP chairman to dismantle the bridge and sale the materials as scrap, goes the case statement. The higher authorities of LGED asked the Barisal ACC to investigate the matter and after primary investigation the complainant lodged the case for misappropriating 3467 iron scraps worth Tk 7 lakh 96 thousand and 977, the OC said.