The High Court has ordered 17 former and current Biman officials to surrender within three weeks in the case of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on allegations of irregularities.
The High Court bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Md Aminul Islam passed the order on Wednesday after the 17 officials appeared and applied for anticipatory bail.
Earlier, on February 6, ACC Assistant Director Jasmine Akhter filed the case at the agency's integrated office, Dhaka-1, as the plaintiff.
According to the case, through premeditated connivance and misuse of power, the accused first confirmed leasing two planes from EgyptAir and later withdrew Tk1,161 crore from the aircraft till re-delivery and embezzled the money by enjoying it among themselves.
The accused were sued under Sections 109/409/420 of the Penal Code and Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947.
Biman lost over 1,100C
According to the parliamentary body, the national flag carrier lost Tk1,161 crore as the two aircraft were leased from EgyptAir in 2014.
After operating a flight in February 2015, the engines of one of the aircraft was damaged. To keep it running, Biman rented another engine from EgyptAir.
However, after a year and a half, the rented engine was also damaged. Following this, Biman rented another engine but it was subsequently damaged.
The last engine was sent to another company in the United States for servicing without a timeline on how long it would take to fix it, said ACC sources.
On May 28, 2022, the ACC sent a letter to the managing director and CEO of Biman Bangladesh Airlines and summoned the documents related to the lease.
Meanwhile, ACC formed an investigation team consisting of Deputy Director Md Salahuddin and Assistant Director Jasmine Akhtar to investigate the allegations of irregularities and corruption in the aircraft leasing process and submit a report.
