Six including 5 BPDB officials sued for embezzlement

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against six people including five officials of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) bringing allegation of corruption in purchasing pump for power plant in Chattogram.

The accused are-Abdul Malik Alim, official of contact farm Powertech International, Bhuban Bijay Datta, chief engineer of the power plant, Abu Yusuf and Tofazzal Hossain, additional chief engineers, Mizanur Rahman Sarker, executive engineer of BPDB, and A H Kamal, chief engineer of Northern Electricity Supply Company Limited (NESCO) under BPDB.

The accused officials bought two electric pumps worth Tk25 lakh at a price of Tk3 crore for the Shikalbaha 150-Megawatt Peaking Power Plant.

Mamunur Rashid Chowdhury, assistant director of the ACC head office, filed the case at the ACC's divisional office in the port city on Tuesday morning.

According to the case statement, the Directorate of Purchase of BPDB formed a seven-member tender evaluation committee in 2016 for buying the pumps of the plant. The committee stipulated the condition in such a way that only Powertech International can participate in the contracting work. Later, the company signed a contract worth $3.65 lakh with BPDB.

However, two pumps were brought from India through LC at Shyamoli Branch of Islami Bank at a price of $30,017. The accused people embezzled the rest amount, said the case statement.