The liberation war affairs ministry had flouted rules by not floating tender for procuring the gold crests used for honouring the foreign wartime friends, secretary of the ministry reportedly told the cabinet secretary.
Instead of floating a competitive tender as was the practice, the ministry allegedly chose a jewellery company for making and supplying the crests in the beginning of 2012.
Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan yesterday confirmed the Dhaka Tribune that KH Masud Siddiqui, secretary of the liberation war affairs ministry, had briefed him about the primary findings of an investigation into what had recently come to be known as the “gold crest scam.”
Meanwhile, a three-member official probe committee, headed by Dhaka Divisional Commissioner Jillar Rahman, started looking into the scam yesterday. Officials said the committee had been tasked with finding out whether the ministry had the authority to procure the crests without floating a tender and testing quality.
The probe body was formed following the publication of a recent news report in a Bangla daily about massive irregularities in the procurement of the gold crests used for honouring the wartime foreign friends.
According to the news report, the BSTI tested and confirmed that the crests had been made with only a fraction of the gold that the ministry was actually billed for.
Between 2012 and 2013, the government honoured 338 foreign individuals and organisations with awards