HC asks 17 Biman officials to surrender

The High Court (HC) has ordered 17 former and present officials of Biman Bangladesh Airlines to surrender to the judicial court within three weeks.

They have been accused in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on allegations of irregularities in the process of leasing two aircrafts from Egypt Air.

The HC bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Md Aminul Islam passed the order after the 17 officials appeared before the court and applied for anticipatory bail on Wednesday (8 February).

Lawyers Khurshid Alam Khan and Asif Hasan appeared for the ACC in the hearing. Lawyer ARM Hasanuzzaman appeared for the accused.

Earlier on 6 February, ACC Deputy Director Jasmin Akhter filed the case at the agency's integrated office of Dhaka-1 as the plaintiff.

The defendants in the case are Biman Flight Operations Director Captain Ishrat Ahmed, Deputy Engineer Md Shafiqul Alam Siddique, General Manager Abdur Rahman Fukai, former chief engineer Shahid Uddin Mohammad Hanifi, former chief engineer Debesh Chowdhury, Airworthiness Consultant (CAAB) Golam Sarwar, Engineer Md Sadekul Islam Bhuya, DGM Kamal Uddin Ahmed, Chief Engineer ARM Kaiser Zaman, System Engineer Sharif Ruhul Quddus, Captain Md Nazrul Islam Shamim, Captain Zia Ahmed, Chief Purser Kazi Mosaddek Ali, Flight Purser Md Shahidullah Kaiser Duke, Deputy General Manager Md Azad Rahman, Manager Md Abdul Qadir, Deputy Chief Engineer Md Shahjahan, Engineer Officer Md Zahid Hossain, Assistant Manager Md Fazlul Haque Basunia, Manager Md Ataur Rahman, Chief Purser Mohammad Sajjad Ul Haque, Flight Purser Shahnaz Begum Jharna, and Chief Engineer Gazi Mahmud Iqbal.

It is said in the complaint that the defendants premeditatedly colluded and misused their power to benefit themselves first and then benefit others and embezzled money through fraud by leasing and then re-delivering two aircraft from Egypt Air causing a loss of Tk1,161 crore to Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited.

They have committed an offense punishable under Section 109/409/420 of the Penal Code and Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947.

According to ACC sources, Biman Bangladesh Airlines leased two Boeing 777-200 ER model aircraft from Egypt Air in 2014 under a five-year contract. Both aircraft suffered engine failure at the end of the first year. The engines were about 12-15 years old and were completely broken due to their short airworthiness period.

Another engine was leased from Egypt Air to keep the aircraft operational. After a year and a half, that too was destroyed.

In five years, the total loss amounted to Tk1,100 crore. The findings came up in the investigation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism.