An executive engineer and 12 other officials of Pabna public works department were sent to jail on Thursday in connection with unusual expenditure in purchasing pillow, furniture and other household items for Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.
Earlier the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) arrested them from different places in the city.
Contacted Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya, deputy director (public relations) of ACC said earlier in the morning they were placed before the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Nivana Khair Jessi.
After the hearing Magistrate Nivana Khair Jessi rejected the bail petition of the accused and sent them to jail.
“We have arrested them from the city’s Segunbagicha area and different places of the country. Later they were produced before the court which sent them jail,” Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya, spokesperson of the anti-graft watchdog, told Bangladesh Post on Thursday evening.
Earlier a three-member committee led by Deputy Director Md Nasir Uddin was formed to investigate the scam.
Later, ACC launched an investigation into the graft allegations against people involved in unusual expenditure in purchasing pillow, furniture and other household items for Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.
The arrestees are former Pabna Public Works Department executive engineer Masudul Alam, deputy assistant engineers Md Jahidul Kabir, Md Shafiqul Islam, Suman Kumar Nandi, Mohammad Abu Sayed, Md Rowshan Ali, deputy divisional engineers- Mohammad Mostafa Kamal, Ahmed Sajjad Khan, Mohammad Tahajjud Hossain, assistant engineers Md Tarek Khan, Md Aminul Islam and contractors Asif Hossain and Shahadat Hossain.
A total of four cases were filed in connection with the graft.
On July 24, some sixteen officials of the housing and public works ministry were suspended for their involvement in graft
The housing and public works ministry found the involvement of 34 government officials in irregularities in purchasing the goods for the project.
According to the reports, each pillow was shown to have cost Tk 5,957 and Tk 760 was shown as the lifting charge for each pillow while an electric stove was shown to have been bought for Tk 7,747 with an additional lifting charge of Tk 6,650.
The purchase price of an electric kettle was reportedly Tk 5,313 while its lifting cost was Tk 2,945.
Similarly, a room-cleaning machine, purchased at Tk 12,018, was lifted spending Tk 6,650.
Each pillow, the reports claimed, was bought for Tk 5,957, and its carrying cost from the shop to the building was at Tk 760.
The two panels of the ministry found irregularities worth more than Tk 620 million. They also found the involvement of 34 government officers in irregularities in purchasing the items for Green City housing project under Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant Project.
According to the reports, 11 20-storey buildings and eight 16-storey buildings are being constructed as part of the project to accommodate the project members.
Following media reports on the alleged corruption, the housing and public works ministry formed two separate investigation panels in May 19.
The purchase prices of stuffs to furnish the project’s apartments for the staff were unusually higher than the market prices, the media reported.
Construction works of eight 20-storey buildings and one 16-storey building were completed.
The purchase price of each refrigerator was shown Tk 94, 250 and Tk 12, 521 was shown as the lifting charge. Similarly, a TV, purchased at Tk 86,970, was lifted spending Tk 7,638, while a bed sheet was shown to have been bought for Tk 5,986 with an additional lifting charge of Tk 931.
