[🇧🇩] Corruption Watch

[Saif]

How can he stop extortion when he is the one who is responsible for rampant extortion in the transport sector? He was protecting his share of the extortion money while making the comment.

Extortion can’t be stopped, but controlled: Quader

The authorities will monitor traffic congestion-prone 155 areas across the country to ease the travails of travel during the coming Eid-ul-Fitr...

www.newagebd.net

Extortion can’t be stopped, but controlled: Quader​

Congestion-prone areas to be monitored during eid holidays​

Staff Correspondent | Published: 00:32, Mar 22,2024

Obaidul Quader

The authorities will monitor traffic congestion-prone 155 areas across the country to ease the travails of travel during the coming Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.

The decision was taken on Thursday at a preparatory meeting for road travel during the forthcoming Eid.

Road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader, while chairing the meeting, said that extortion in the transport sector reached such a bad level that even the prime minister had to talk about it.

‘Extortion is impacting the prices of essentials. Naturally the prime minister can understand it and she was forced to talk severely on the issue,’ he said, adding, ‘extortion cannot be stopped. Maybe it can be controlled.’

The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority held the meeting at its headquarters in the capital in which former shipping minister and Bangladesh Road Transport Worker’s Federation president Shajahan Khan and senior officials of the ministry were also present.

Obaidul urged the authorities concerned to check some traffic congestion prone areas, Hanif Flyover in Dhaka, Gazipur, Chandra, Nabinagar and Bangabandhu Bridge west side among them, to reduce sufferings of Eid travellers.

Decisions were also taken to keep open CNG filing stations for 24 hours seven days before and five days after the Eid day and on the Eid day, stop movement of goods-laden vehicles on highways three days before and after the Eid day and monitor 155 traffic congestion-prone areas during the holiday.

Shajahan Khan said that extortions on the road should be brought at a tolerable level.

Extortion is crippling the transport sector, the former shipping minister added.

Obaidul also said that dilapidated buses on Dhaka roads are a shame for Bangladesh.

‘These buses are shameful for our development, achievement and height,’ he said, adding that in Dhaka city there are many factories of these buses.

He said that he had visited some of these factories to see that these buses were being painted with so low quality materials that they would last only 10 days.

‘I asked the owners’ leaders many times but nothing worked,’ he continued and urged the owners to ensure fitness of buses before the Eid holidays begin.

Fatal road crashes are mainly taking place after the Eid due to lax monitoring, he also observed.

He blamed movement of motorcycles and three-wheelers and reckless driving for fatal road crashes.

‘We do not evaluate the implementation of the decisions taken in these meetings. The effectiveness of these decisions in reality needed to be evaluated,’ he added.​

 

[Saif]

NRBC branch covered up capital flight

Export proceeds worth at least $3.45 million (Tk 34.41 crore) were not repatriated by six customers of NRB Commercial Bank’s Uttara branch, and the bank concealed the trail of the capital flight, according to the bank’s internal audit and case documents.

www.thedailystar.net

NRBC branch covered up capital flight​

NRB Commercial (NRBC) Bank has often made headlines for alleged money laundering, loan irregularities, over-expenditure and recruitment anomalies. In 2017, Bangladesh Bank had to intervene to dissolve the bank's board and remove its managing director Dewan Mujibur Rahman over a loan scandal involving Tk 700 crore. The then chairman Farasath Ali had to resign from the board. Both Mujibur and Farasath were banned from bank directorship for two years by the BB, and the board was subsequently restructured. The new board is headed by a chairman against whom allegations of irregularities were already rife, and the bank continues to be dogged by anomalies. A six-month investigation by The Daily Star based on hundreds of pages of documents reveals numerous irregularities and even gun toting inside the bank.

The second installment of this four-part series tells the story of how the bank's Uttara branch sought to hide the trail of capital flight in the name of RMG export.

Export proceeds worth at least $3.45 million (Tk 34.41 crore) were not repatriated by six customers of NRB Commercial Bank's Uttara branch, and the branch concealed the trail of the capital flight, according to the bank's internal audit and case documents.

Additionally, five of these companies failed to make any exports at all against LCs worth $8.27 million (Tk 90 crore), leaving the bank grappling with dollars going out and none coming back in.

The amount was later turned into forced loans by the branch over the last four years, according to the bank's internal audit report dated August 19, 2021.

Meeting minutes show that these forced loans were then converted into general loans to be rescheduled again and again, thereby covering up the tracks.

These companies, one of which is linked to Adnan Imam, the chairman of the bank's executive committee, collected bills against the orders without submitting shipping documents, while the money from exports never came.

"It has been observed quite a few times that the branch made payments of their back-to-back LC bills by creating Foreign Documentary Bills Purchase loan accounts, whereas these bills should have been settled through relevant export proceeds," says the audit report obtained by The Daily Star.

On July 11 last year, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) sued 11 officials of the bank over swindling Tk 78.6 crore from the bank and laundering Tk 5.97 crore using a sweater factory called Ixora Apparels, one of the six companies accused of not repatriating export proceeds.

Asked about the overall condition of NRBC, Bangladesh Bank Executive Director and Spokesperson Md Mezbaul Haque said there have been multiple investigations into the bank and that actions are taken when required.

ADNAN'S LINK TO IXORA

Company registration documents show Ixora is linked to Adnan Imam, who along with current NRBC Chairman Tamal Parvez was previously investigated and removed from the bank's board over alleged money laundering through disguised loans.

Both have denied the money laundering allegations, and said the claims by "a vested group were false and motivated".

Adnan also denied having any link with Ixora.

According to the ACC investigation, Ixora Apparels exported 12 consignments of garments to the UK worth Tk 5.97 crore in 2018-2020, but did not remit the earnings.

The RMG maker is the 19th largest borrower of the bank, shows a memo from the bank's credit risk management division dated December 26, 2023.

The memo also shows that the company has had Tk 119 crore of its loans rescheduled till 2027 and 2028. But even after the regularisation, it has defaulted on instalments, with its overdue outstanding balance standing at about Tk 6 crore.

The company began banking with NRBC in August 2016.

When it took its first loan the same year, its owners were one Ruhul Amin Bhuiyan, who owned 40 percent of the share, and one Masud Rana who owned another 40 percent. Their wives owned 10 percent each. Both Ruhul and Masud are accused in the ACC case.

In 2021, the company changed hands, giving 83 percent ownership to another company called Vibranium.

According to Vibranium's company registration documents, its chairman is Badrul Hasan Patwary. He is the company secretary of a firm called Genex Infosys whose chairman is Adnan Imam.

Vibranium was set up with a paid-up capital of only Tk 10 lakh. Less than two weeks after its incorporation in 2019, Vibranium proceeded to buy a company that owns 78,164 square feet of factory floor and over 800 pieces of capital machinery that produces over 8,000 pieces of clothing per day, according to the company's website.

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"The central bank has done audit after audit on this bank but it does not follow through and there are no judicial outcomes."
— Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya​

NRBC renewed the company's composite loan limit at least eight times, thrice after Patwary assumed ownership.

Patwary has not been charged by the ACC, although its investigation found that the client availed loan one after another but did not return the borrowed money.

"The loan was given even though the client's transactions were not satisfactory," said the ACC probe report.

In June 2023, Bangladesh Bank gave the company an extension up till September 2023 to adjust export proceeds worth $358,273 against the five orders from 2018 to 2020.

Contacted, Adnan Imam said, "Ixora Apparels is a client of NRBC Bank and in no way related to me. I was advised that Ixora went through financial struggles during the pandemic, like many other businesses at that time, and the bank has supported Ixora like any other normal business that required support. I am also advised that Tk 5.97 crore has been fully repatriated to Bangladesh. The ACC has investigated the matter and has found no issue."

MISSING DOLLARS

Polygon Fashion Ltd is another company that failed to repatriate export proceeds worth $8,33,928 or Tk 9.15 crore, according to a 2021 report by the bank's Internal Control and Compliance Division (ICCD).

It also failed to make shipments, and could not settle LCs worth $3.27 million, which were opened to import raw materials for production.

In 2023, Polygon was the number one defaulting borrower of the bank. In November last year, its total outstanding loans stood at Tk 87.7 crore, and the bank had to file claims at the Money Loan Court (Artha Rin Adalat).

The bank's Uttara branch then turned the liability of the Gazipur-based company into 74 forced loans.

Polygon was over-financed although the company was likely incapable of availing such amounts of loan, the ICCD report said, adding, "As a result, the customer could not utilise funds properly and he had the opportunity to divert funds elsewhere and he may have diverted funds."

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"These are depositors' money and I am trying to recover it. I have to nurse these and recover the money anyhow. I take responsibility for these disguised (benami) loans and I will recover them."
— Tamal Parvez​

Before approving a loan, it is required by the bank to collect the customer's credit reports based on the value of the invoice. But during inspection, the audit team found that credit reports of some buyers were not available.

In addition, the team found that the bank did not collect all the original shipping documents as proof of shipments being made.

The ICCD report concluded that the liability has reached such a level that Polygon would not be able to pay it back. The loan was rescheduled in November 2021.

At the time of the ICCD report in 2021, Blessing Knitwear Ltd was the 20th largest borrower of the bank, having a loan of Tk 115.4 crore.

Its export proceeds worth $661,085 (Tk 7.2 crore) were not repatriated to the bank. It also failed to pay the bank an additional $2.33 million (Tk 25 crore) as it did not complete shipments against several other LCs.

"It has been observed that the branch allowed undue facility to the customer against incomplete documents without confirming shipping [sic] or having original authenticated bill of lading," the report said.

These unrepatriated proceeds were turned into forced loans, and the company may have diverted the fund elsewhere, the report noted.

On December 22, 2022, all of the liabilities were rescheduled into general loans.

Inside Knit Composite Ltd did not repatriate $301,191 or Tk 3.3 crore, again forcing the bank to turn the liability into forced loans, which the ICCD found "totally unexpected".

During the factory visit, the ICCD team did not see any stock of goods against the LC.

"It appears that the customer was free to open back-to-back LCs, and to sell those stock of goods on the local market at will," said the report.

In addition, the company did not complete other shipments, leaving the bank with an LC bill of $0.9 million (Tk 9.7 crore) and no incoming dollars.

Minutes of a meeting of the bank's credit risk division dated December 24, 2023, show the bank rescheduled the forced loans to improve the bank's "ability to adopt new customers by reducing capital requirement of the bank" and its "market reputation".

5F Apparels did not repatriate $1.2 million (Tk 13.2 crore), said the report, adding that the bank allowed the customer loans against incomplete shipping documents.

The company also left the bank short of $0.7 million (Tk 7.6 crore) because it did not complete shipments.

"The branch negotiated without any shipping documents and original bill of lading, and consequently no shipment was executed against this bill," said the report.

While the bank converted the amount into forced loans, the company may have diverted the fund elsewhere, it said.

Minutes of the 129th board meeting held on November 20, 2021, show 24 forced loans worth Tk 12.23 crore were turned into general loans for a period of 10 years.

Relux Fashion Ltd did not repatriate $85,820 or Tk 94 lakh and the liability was turned into forced loans. In addition, incomplete shipments resulted in an unmet LC obligation of $0.8 million (Tk 9 crore) for the bank.

"Excess finance was allowed exceeding the value of export LCs violating export policy. Therefore, the export proceeds will be inadequate to settle back-to-back obligations," said the ICCD report.

However, NRBC Bank's board meeting minutes from April 12, 2023, show the forced loans were rescheduled for five years by converting them into general loans, wiping out the capital flight from record.

The Daily Star reached out to all these RMG companies via phone calls and emails. Only Polygon responded. Its Managing Director MD Shariful Islam said the company incurred forced loans as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"There were instances where the shipments were made, but the buyers refused to accept them. In another case, the buyer received the shipment but did not pay us. This resulted in forced loans," he said.

NRBC Chairman Tamal Parvez, also known as Parvez Tamal, said when he took over the bank in 2017, he inherited a legacy of bad clients.

"These are depositors' money and I am trying to recover it. I have to nurse these and recover the money anyhow. I take responsibility for these disguised (benami) loans and I will recover them," he told The Daily Star in an interview for this story.

He said that when he took over, over half the loans that the bank had given out were unsecured overdraft loans – meaning there were no assets attached to them.

Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, a Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue, said it shows that the bank's governance does not look after depositors' interest.

"It must be established whether these kinds of forced loans are within the prudential guidelines," he noted.

The economist also termed it "a failure in governance" on the part of the central bank.

"The central bank has done audit after audit on this bank but it does not follow through and there are no judicial outcomes," he said.​

 

[Saif]

Drop in graft complaints to ACC raises eyebrows

The Anti-Corruption Commission has recorded a substantial drop in the number of corruption complaints in recent years though global corruption watchdogs have found corruption rising...

www.newagebd.net

Drop in graft complaints to ACC raises eyebrows
Experts blame lack of confidence in ACC
Solamain Salman | Published: 00:18, Mar 24,2024

The Anti-Corruption Commission has recorded a substantial drop in the number of corruption complaints in recent years though global corruption watchdogs have found corruption rising in the country.

The latest report from the Transparency International revealed that corruption increased in Bangladesh with the country sliding two steps down to the 10th position from the bottom among the 180 countries covered by the Corruption Perception Index 2023.

But the data from the ACC’s latest annual report to be made public on Sunday showed that the commission received 15,437 complaints in 2023, compared with 19,338 in 2022, 14,789 in 2021 during the Covid pandemic, 18,489 in 2020, and 21,371 in 2019.

Asked about the decrease in corruption complaints, good governance and anti-graft campaigners said that apparently it is the manifestation of people’s frustration from failing to get a remedy to the menace permeating the society.

‘People are losing confidence in the commission as they cannot see visible action after they filed graft complaints,’ said M. Hafizuddin Khan, a retired civil servant and former adviser to the caretaker government.

Former cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder told New Age that the ACC is failing to meet people’s expectation, prompting disinterest to come to the anti-graft body to end their sufferings.

An analysis of the last five years of data finds that the ACC received a total of 88,105 graft allegations between 2019 and 2023, but it took only 4,750 of them into consideration to launch inquiry. But the commission did not launch any inquiry into the rest of the 70,397 graft allegations which cover 94.61 per cent of the total allegations.

The ACC filed a total of 1,868 cases in the past five years.

‘The commission cannot take into consideration all the allegations submitted as most of them fall beyond ACC jurisdiction,’ said its chairman Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah.

In a household survey on the services sectors, Transparency International Bangladesh in 2022 revealed that 70.9 per cent of people were victims of corruption, with 40.1 per cent having to pay bribes of Tk 6,636 on average to obtain services.

It also found that the law enforcement agencies topped the list of 17 service sectors surveyed as 74.4 per cent people became victims of their corruption. The passport office came in second among corrupt sectors, BRTA came in third, judicial services fourth, health sector fifth, local government institutions sixth, land related services seventh, education eighth, electricity ninth, climate change tenth, agriculture eleventh, insurance twelfth, NGO thirteenth, gas fourteenth, banking fifteenth, and tax and customs sixteenth.

Experts said that as the people filing complaints are not getting their expected remedies, they are becoming frustrated and losing confidence in the commission.

Hafizuddin Khan also said, ‘I think corruption is rather increasing than decreasing. As people coming with complaints do not get remedies their confidence erodes, resulting in the declining number of complaints.’


TIB executive director Iftekharuzzaman said that in the absence of relevant data, it is difficult to assess with certainty the implications of such a decline in the number of complaints from one year to another.

He, however, said that one thing is certain: this decline in the number of complaints to the ACC cannot be treated as evidence of reduced corruption.

‘On the contrary, since it has been noted that quite a large proportion of complaints remain unaddressed every year and complainants are not informed by the ACC about the fate of the complaints, the decline may be a syndrome of people’s perception that it makes no sense to complain,’ said Iftekharuzzaman.

‘To overcome this, the ACC would do well to develop a practice of regularly and systematically communicating the reasons behind complaints being unaddressed,’ he added.

According to the ACC annual report, in 2023, out of 15,437 allegations, 9,262 were submitted to the ACC headquarters, 771 were received from government offices and agencies, 308 from private departments and agencies, 1,080 from newspaper and television reports, 1,439 from divisional and district offices of the ACC, and 462 complaints were received through ACC hotline 106.

Apart from this, the commission also received 2,115 allegations from other sources, including the court, social media platforms like Facebook and emails, according to the latest annual report.

In 2023, the ACC initiated 923 new inquiries along with previous 3,505 pending ones. Of them, 1,206 inquiries were completed and 404 cases were filed and charges sheets were submitted in 363 cases in that year.

Apart from this, 12,958 allegations were sent to the departments and offices concerned for taking necessary measures.

A total of 361 cases were disposed of in 2023 in which the average conviction rate was 62.30 per cent. Currently, a total of 3,553 corruption cases are pending with the courts across the country.​

 

[Saif]

Experts doubt motive behind high number of small projects

A total of 30 projects, each worth less than Tk 50 crore, were brought to the meeting of the executive committee of the Economic Council...

www.newagebd.net

Experts doubt motive behind high number of small projects
Staff Correspondent | Published: 00:27, Mar 29,2024

A total of 30 projects, each worth less than Tk 50 crore, were brought to the meeting of the executive committee of the Economic Council on Thursday for appraisal, as opposed to five to six such projects in the past.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting and was apprised of the overwhelming number of projects that were approved by the planning minister.

The planning minister holds the power to approve a project costing less than Tk 50 crore, while projects with higher costs need approval from ECNEC.

The details of 30 projects submitted to ECNEC during Thursday’s meeting, however, were not revealed.

Experts said not publicly revealing the details of projects might raise questions about whether those were taken to benefit certain groups against the backdrop of unnecessary projects crowding the annual development programme.

In the post-ECNEC briefing, planning minister Major General (retired) Abdus Salam said he did not approve any single of the 30 projects placed in the meeting for appraisal.

The projects were approved during the tenure of immediate past planning minister MA Mannan, he said.

He, however, claimed that there was nothing wrong with approving such projects.

All the projects are necessary, he said.

Answering a question about whether the planning commission placed so many projects for ECNEC appraisal in a single ECNEC meeting in the past, planning ministry secretary Satyajit Karmaker blamed the time gap in holding the ECNEC meeting for the matter.

Before the last general election, the ECNEC meeting was held every week, but now it takes

more than a month, he said, without elaborating on the reasons behind such a time gap.

The planning secretary did not name the projects placed for appraisal in the ECNEC meeting.

A planning ministry official, on condition of anonymity, said the number of projects with a cost of less than Tk 50 crore had never exceeded five in the past.

The ministries and divisions are showing interest in small projects to bypass the scrutiny process of the ECNEC, he noted.

Most of the projects are taken out of political consideration, he said.

The previous ECNEC meeting held on October 30, 2023, was apprised of only five such projects, he said.

Former World Bank Dhaka office chief economist Zahid Hussain said 30 projects was an overwhelming number, which showed growing interest in such projects.

The government should specify the number of such projects against the poor quality of development projects in the ADP, he said.

Transparency International Bangladesh executive director Iftekharuzzaman said the extraordinary number demanded more transparency since their costs involved public money.

Questions may be raised about the motive behind such projects, he said.

The day’s ECNEC meeting approved a total of 11 projects worth Tk 8,425.51 crore.

The projects include the construction of Union Parishad Complex under the third phase across the country at Tk 3,059 crore, the development of rural infrastructures in the Rangpur region at Tk 2,500 crore, procurement of 20 meter-gauge diesel electronic locomotives and 150 meter-gauge passenger carriages with an additional cost of Tk 288.07 crore to Tk 2,157 crore, upgrading the Kashinathpur-Dashuria-Natore-Rajshahi-Nababganj-Kansat-Sonamasjid-Baliadighi Border national highway at Tk 481.89 crore, development of infrastructure for enhancing the capacity of the government fisheries farms and boosting production at Tk 371.32 crore, and improvement of Fish Landing Centre of Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation in Cox’s Bazar at Tk 232.83 crore.

The planning commission officials said the PM directed keeping restrooms and adequate booths while constructing the Bangladesh Chancery Complex and Residential Building in Cairo, Egypt, at Tk 166 crore.

The PM also directed necessary steps to prevent river erosion in Kurigram while implementing development projects there and asked for the completion of union parishad complexes without any delay, according to the planning commission secretary.

Directives were also given by the PM for effective steps to avail maximum benefits and facilities after the country graduates from the bloc of Least Developed Countries in 2026.

The PM also ordered preparation strategies to face the challenges in the post-LDC graduation period.​

 

[Saif]

Era of complacency must come to an end

Taxpayer funds, earmarked for the advancement of knowledge and the betterment of society, must not be squandered on corrupt practices.

www.thedailystar.net

Corruption in public universities

Era of complacency must come to an end​

Chittagong University campus. File photo

Public universities in Bangladesh symbolise the collective ambition for intellectual growth and societal betterment. However, recent revelations have shaken this perception, laying bare a troubling reality of systemic corruption and irregularities which taint the integrity of these institutions. Despite being entrusted with the mission of nurturing minds and propelling research, certain university administrations, particularly the vice-chancellors, stray from their path. Many have become ensnared in a labyrinth of political intrigue and financial impropriety.

Those who have breached public trust must be held accountable for their actions. Only through steadfast commitment to the principles of integrity and fairness can we aspire to revive the noble ideals upon which our universities were established. The era of complacency must come to an end; the time for decisive action is upon us.

Most recently, Chittagong University finds itself engulfed in a morass of unjust and irregular activities, prompting a year-long protest by the teachers' association, calling for the resignation of both the vice-chancellor and pro vice-chancellor. The tenure of Vice-Chancellor Dr Shireen Akhter was fraught with a series of controversial and irregular appointments, casting significant doubt upon the integrity of the selection process. The now-former vice-chancellor oversaw at least 172 recruitments without adhering to mandatory advertising protocols or considering the needs of specific departments. Under her leadership, CU seemed to devolve into a mere job market, where appointments were handed out with alarming frequency and little regard for meritocracy. The institution, once revered as a beacon of learning, appeared to be reduced to a mere pawn in a game of patronage and self-interest.

The media landscape bore witness to this spectacle, with reports and exposés documenting the commodification of positions within the university hierarchy. For the past four years, news outlets have diligently chronicled the exploitation of the institution for personal gain, capturing the narrative through compelling audio-visual representations.

In protest against numerous transgressions, the Chittagong University Teachers' Association (CUTA) has persistently demonstrated for the past one year, calling for the resignation of both the vice-chancellor and the pro vice-chancellor. They organised a month-long exhibition showcasing reports of corruption and irregularities published in various newspapers. Eventually, a new vice-chancellor was appointed and the implicated vice-chancellor was removed from office. While the appointment of a new vice-chancellor and a new pro vice-chancellor represent a positive step forward, these remain insufficient in addressing the deep-rooted systemic issues plaguing the institution.

Meanwhile, the recent legal steps taken in response to allegations of corruption at another public university are commendable. At Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology (RUET), the appointment process for 17 officers and employees faced significant scrutiny. Acknowledging the gravity of these allegations, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) approved a case against both the former vice-chancellor and acting registrar of RUET, signalling a resolute stance against malpractice within a public educational institution.

Taxpayer funds, earmarked for the advancement of knowledge and the betterment of society, must not be squandered on corrupt practices. It is intolerable that educational institutions operate with impunity, shielded from consequences for their malfeasance. To rekindle faith in our education system, authorities must ensure that perpetrators of corruption face the full force of legal repercussions. Urgent and impartial investigation into the alleged misdeeds of past administrations are also crucial. Justice must be served clearly, with those implicated in corruption held accountable regardless of their status or influence.

Anything short of this risks further eroding of public trust in our educational institutions and the rule of law itself.
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Dr Ala Uddin is professor of anthropology at Chittagong University. ​