Photo: Collected
The court has fixed 17 November as the new date for submission of the investigation report in the case filed against five people, including former Begum Rokeya University (BRUR) vice-chancellor Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah, on charges of embezzling development project funds.
Wednesday was fixed for submission of the report at the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Shahjahan Kabir. But the investigating agency, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), could not submit the report on the day. As a result, the judge set 17 November as the next date.
ACC Assistant Director Minhaj Bin Islam filed the case as complainant against five people, including Kalimullah, on 18 July last year.
The case alleges that the accused, in collusion with one another and abusing their power, brought changes to the design in disregard of the approved DPP of the university’s development project. They concluded a contract worth more than Tk 30 crore without the approval of the ministry or division.
The complaint further says that after the security deposit deducted from the contractor’s running bills was kept in a bank as an FDR, a ‘No Objection Certificate’ was approved for giving a loan to the contractor against that money; that is, the university became guarantor and embezzled Tk 4 crore of the government’s money.
Although there was no provision for advance payment in the contract with the contractor, an advance bill was paid. Not only that, the bank guarantees given against the advance bill were also released before it was adjusted.
A second consulting firm was appointed outside the public procurement rules, without following the drawing or design made by the first consulting firm. Alongside this, the allegation has also been brought that the tender was not evaluated in compliance with the provisions of PPR 2008 despite there being an abnormal rate or front loading.
The other accused in the case are former BRUR vice-chancellor and project director AKM Nurun Nabi, former executive engineer and member secretary of the tender evaluation committee Md Jahangir Alam, contractor Md A Salam Bachchu and MM Habibur Rahman.
