Former Bridges Division Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, the prime accused in the Padma Bridge conspiracy case, met with the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) chairman and commissioners on July 23.
Mosharraf first met newly appointed ACC Commissioner for inquiry Nasir Ussin Ahmed, and later had a meeting with Chairman M Bodiuzzaman, and commissioners Shahabuddin Chuppu and Nasir Uddin at the chairman’s office, ACC sources confirmed.
However, the contents of their meetings were not disclosed to the media.
After the meeting, Mosharraf told the media that he had come to the commission to have a courtesy meeting with the newly-appointed chairman.
However, commission sources said the former secretary was here to lobby in his favour in the Padma Bridge conspiracy case.
Officials alleged that Mosharraf was there to lobby for himself since a commission team is scheduled to visit Canada again to observe the trial and participate in the hearing of a related corruption conspiracy case scheduled on September 9. In the case, two officials of Canadian company SNC-Lavalin are charged with attempted bribery to secure contracts in the Padma Bridge project.
ACC on December 17 filed the conspiracy for corruption in the Padma Bridge project case with Banani police station against seven people, including Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan as the prime accused.
On December 26, Mosharraf was arrested by ACC officials and a Rab team from Shahbagh area while leaving the High Court. He was suspended from duties on January 16 with effect from December 26, the day he was arrested.
Later on February 5, the former secretary secured bail and afterwards the public administration ministry on June 4 withdrew his suspension order and made him Officer on Special Duty.
The diary of Ramesh Saha, who is the key accused in the Canadian case, reportedly contains a list of people to be bribed. A commission of 1% was allegedly set aside for Mosharraf in that list.