Barapukuria coal mine embezzlement: 22 including 6 former MDs sent to jail

Dinajpur Special Judge's Court has sent 22 individuals, including six former managing directors (MDs) of the Barapukuria coal mine in Dinajpur to prison on charges of embezzling 143,727.92 metric tonnes of coal.

The charges were filed, and the officers appeared before the court on Wednesday to apply for bail. Judge Mahmudul Karim of the court denied bail to the officers and sent them to prison.

Dinajpur court police inspector Israil Hossain confirmed of the matter.

He said, "The accused appeared in court and applied for bail. The judge denied the application and ordered them to be sent to jail. But the officers have not yet been taken into custody."

According to case sources, 143,727.92 metric tonnes of coal were stolen from Barapukuria coal mine from January 2006 to 19 July 2018, the estimated value of which is Tk243.28 crore.

This incident sparked a brawl at the time and the coal-fired thermal power plant was shut down.

Anisur Rahman, manager (administration) of Barapukuria Coal Mining Company, filed a case with Parbatipur Model Police Station on 24 July 2018, naming 19 individuals.

Since the case was included in the ACC schedule, it was handed over to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). ACC Deputy Director Samsul Alam later investigated the case.

On 24 July 2019, a charge sheet was filed against 23 individuals, including seven former managing directors. According to the charge sheet, the accused were involved in the embezzlement of 143,727.99 metric tons of coal between January 2006 and July 19, 2018.

The charge sheet also indicated that the investigation had proved that the accused had committed punishable offenses under sections 409/109 of the Penal Code and Section 5 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947.

The names of nine individuals were added to the charge sheet and five people were dropped from the list of the accused as they were found to be not involved in the incident.

The accused are: Abdul Aziz Khan, former managing director (MD) of Barapukuria Coal Mining Company; engineer Khurshidul Hasan; engineer Kamruzzaman; Aminuzzaman; engineer SM Nurul Aurangzeb; former MD engineer Habib Uddin Ahmed; Shariful Alam, former general manager, administration; Abul Kashem Pradhania; Abu Taher Md Nur-uz-Zaman Chowdhury, mine operations department; Arifur Rahman, manager of maintenance and operations department;  Masudur Rahman Hawlader and Syed Imam Hasan, managers of security department; Md Khalilur Rahman, deputy general manager (DGM) of coal handling management department; Morsheduzzaman, DGM of maintenance and operations department; Habibur Rahman, DGM of production management department; Jahedur Rahman, DGM of mine development department; Satyendra Nath Barman and Moniruzzaman, DGMs of ventilation management department; Shoaibur Rahman, manager of coal handling management; AKM Khaledul Islam, DGM of store department; Ashok Kumar Haldar, manager of production management; and Jobayer Ali, DGM of mine planning and development.

The charge sheet was filed against 23 people in the court, including Mahbubur Rahman, former managing director of Barapukuria Coal Mining Company, who has died.