The Anti-Corruption Commission on Monday appointed its assistant director, Shahidur Rahman, as 'enquiry officer' to look into the allegation against former state minister for energy, AKM Mosharraf Hossain, of taking bribe from Canadian oil company Niko Resources Ltd.
The ACC took the decision in line with the verdict of a Canadian court on June 24 that had fined the company nearly $9.5 million for bribing the state minister in order to be exempted from giving compensation for the damage caused by the explosion that took place in the Tengratila gas-field in Sylhet in 2005.
ACC's chairman Ghulam Rahman told New Age, 'The inquiry officer has been asked to submit a report in this regard within 30 working days.'
Canadian daily Globe and Mail reported that Justice Scott Brooker, of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, said that bribery 'was an embarrassment to all Canadians' and 'a dark stain on Calgary's reputation' when
he passed the sentence.
The report said that for several years a team of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had been probing Niko's activities after the arrest of some Bangladeshi politicians on corruption charges by the military-backed interim government.
According to a report published on June 24 by the Globe and Mail, the company agreed to buy a big car for AKM Mosharraf Hossain and pay the expenses of his trips to Canada and the United States.
Mosharraf resigned in June 2005 after the media in Bangladesh revealed that Niko had given him a Toyota Land Cruiser Signus 2005.
'We will proceed with the inquiry, using the Canadian court's verdict as a clue,' said Shahidur Rahman, who also investigated part of the Niko case against former premier Khaleda Zia, former law minister Moudud Ahmed and former state minister Mosharraf Hossain, the then acting energy secretary Khandakar Shahidul Islam and Quashem Sharif of Niko for causing a loss of Tk 10,000 crore to the country.
The ACC on 9 December, 2007 sued the two former prime ministers, Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, who were then under detention, for alleged corruption in signing contracts with Niko by showing a productive gas-field as 'marginal', which caused the state to incur Tk 23,630.50 crore in losses.
Three former ministers, five retired bureaucrats and a Niko official were also accused.
Hasina was implicated in the case filed by ACC's deputy director MM Shabbir Hasan with the Tejgaon police for causing a loss of Tk 13,630.50 crore.
Her chief secretary SA Samad, former state minister for energy Rafiqul Islam, former energy secretaries Tawfiq Elahi Chowdhury and M Akmal Hossain, the then Petrobangla chairman Mosharraf Hossain and Niko's South Asia vice-president Quashem Sharif were also accused of the same charges.
The High Court on 11 March, 2010 quashed the charges against Hasina, and the cases against all the others were earlier stayed by the court.
Source : New Age
No comments:
Post a Comment