She made the remarks about the Padma Bridge allegations at the regular cabinet meeting on Monday afternoon.
After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam briefed reporters.
On Saturday, a court in Canada acquitted three business executives on charges that SNC-Lavalin Group Inc staff had planned to bribe Bangladesh officials in a bid to win a $50m contract to supervise construction of the Padma Bridge.
“The World Bank’s failure to prove the allegations has brightened the Bangladesh government’s image and it also proved that no corruption had taken place,” the prime minister was quoted by the cabinet secretary.
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Asked whether the government will claim compensation from the World Bank, the cabinet secretary said no decision had been taken in the cabinet meeting regarding compensation.
In a statement issued on June 29, 2012, the WB said that it had credible evidence corroborated by a variety of sources which points to a high-level corruption conspiracy among Bangladeshi government officials, SNC-Lavalin executives, and private individuals in connection with the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project.
On December 17, 2012, the ACC filed the case of “conspiracy for corruption in the Padma Bridge project” against seven people including Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan. The ACC kept the names of former communications minister Syed Abul Hossain and former state minister Abul Hasan as suspects.
The main construction of the bridge began in December last year and has continued smoothly. The government has put highest priority on implementing the project.
The World Bank, Jica, Asian Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank were the initial investors of the mega project. The WB had pledged $1.2b of the project cost.
The bridge’s work stalled after its lead financier WB suspended the funds and raised corruption allegations in October 2011. The other lenders followed suit.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
