Probes find 34 officials from two ministries involved in Rooppur plant graft

Two months after forming probe committees, minister for the Housing and Public Works Ministry in disclosing the reports to the media, said the committees found 34 government officials involved in the graft scandal. 

These 34 government officials were charged with corruption in purchasing furniture and other household items for the Green City housing project for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) Project in Pabna.

The Minister, SM Rezaul Karim at a press conference at the Secretariat said 30 of the officials are from the Housing and Public Works Ministry, while the remaining four are from the Ministry of Science and Technology.

He said it has been decided to file departmental cases against 16 officials of the Housing and Public Works Ministry following their suspension. All necessary legal action, including filing of departmental cases, will be taken against the rest of the officials.

A former chief engineer, on a one-year post-retirement leave (PRL), is also among the eight officials. Three others officials are on Post Retirement Leave (PRL), so different legal action will be taken against them, the minister said. 

The officials under the Science and Technology Ministry are, RNPP project director Dr Shawkat Akbar, deputy project director Hasinur Rahman, sub-assistant engineer Mehdi Hasan, and Md Mahabub.

The money that went down the drain, amounting to Tk 36,40cr will be realized from the contracting company (for 4 buildings), said the minister. "The license of the contracting company will also be canceled."

Difference between the given estimation for 9 buildings and the estimation of the probe bodies for the green project are more than Tk62cr, read a probe summary provided by the ministry .

The reports said, as per the agreement with the housing project authorities, the contractors were supposed to charge nearly Tk113.62 crore to supply furniture and electronic gadgets on several floors of four 20-storey buildings. But the furnishing articles and electronic gadgets supplied were worth around Tk77.22 cr.

Four company got the tender for supplying goods to the project. Of them, two companies were found at fault : Sazin Constructions and Mazid Sons Construction. 

The ministerial probe finds that the corruption was committed in six categories of activities related to the project – estimation, examination of estimation and recommendation, selection and approval of the estimation, payment of bills, formulation and approval of the annual purchase plan, and the evaluation and approval of tenders, according to the summary  findings of the probe report. 

The PWD probe body also found corruption in several areas, such as estimation, processing approval for estimation, and finalization of estimation. 

The committees were formed on May 19, three days after a media outlet reported on cost-related discrepancies in the housing project called Green City for the RNPP project in Iswardi upazila of Pabna. Both the committees submitted their reports on the first week of July. 

The ministry submitted the probe reports to the High Court on July 15.