Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, prime accused in the much-talked-about Padma bridge graft case, has been made member of the Privatisation Commission, nearly seven months after he was made officer on special duty (OSD). The public administration ministry issued a notification regarding the matter yesterday.
Mosharraf is one of the seven who were charged with “conspiracy for corruption in the Padma bridge project.” The Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case on December 17, 2012.
He was suspended on December 26 the same year when he was in jail. The suspension order, however, was withdrawn and he was made OSD on June 5 last year as he was out of jail on bail.
The seven accused were charged for alleged undue favour given to Canadian firm SNC-Lavalin for the contract as a supervising consultant for the country’s largest infrastructure project.
It was learned that the diary of a Lavalin official contains a list of those who received 10-12% commissions for the project, and the information was very precise. It said: “Padma PCC, 4% Min, 2% Kaiser, 2% Nixon, 1% Secretary and 1% Moshi Rahman.” According to the diary, “Secretary” is Mosharraf Hossain.
After being made OSD, Mosharraf on July 23 met with ACC Chairman M Bodiuzzaman and commissioners Shahabuddin Chuppu and Nasir Uddin Ahmed. After the meetings, the accused told the media that it had been a courtesy call.
Before the January 5 poll, Sheikh Hasina urged people not to vote for the candidates whose name came up in Padma bridge scam and for whom the dignity of the country was undermined.
She said this at an election campaign rally for party candidate Qazi Zafarullah, also Awami League’s Presidium member, who was later defeated by Mojibur Rahman alias Nixon Chowdhury, a suspect in the scam.
According to the ministry’s notification, Economic Relations Department (ERD) Secretary Abul Kalam Azad has been transferred as secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office. He has been replaced by Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) Secretary Md Mesbah Uddin.
Member of Privatisation Commission Suraiya Begum has been transferred to the IMED as its secretary.
The contractual appointment of Molla Wahiduzzaman, secretary of PMO, will be terminated on January 17. Azad will join the post the same day.