The Anti-Corruption Commission will not be able to collect a copy of the much-talked-about diary of SNC-Lavalin official Ramesh Shah, until the proceedings of a case in the Canadian Court is completed.
“The diary is now under the jurisdiction of the Canadian court. We cannot get the diary until the judicial process is finished,” ACC legal adviser Anisul Haque told journalists at its headquarters Sunday.
Responding to queries about the involvement of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s family in the bridge project, allegedly documented in the diary, Anisul said: “We did not have a conversation with the lawyer on the case and did not hear anything about the issue.”
Anisul and Investigation Officer Mirza Zahidul Alam flew to Canada on May 19, to collect information on corruption, over the appointment of a supervising consultant for the Padma bridge project, question Ramesh and former director (international projects) Mohammad Ismail of SNC-Lavalin, and procure a copy of the diary.
The diary has a list of commission recipients for the Padma bridge project whose total share equals 10 or 12% of the project value. It reads: “Padma ACC unable to acquire Ramesh Shah’s diary PCC, 4% Min, 2% Kaiser, 2% Nixon, 1% Secretary and 1% Moshi Rahman.” The remaining two percent was listed, but the name associated with the amount was unavailable.
According to the documents, “Min” referred to former communications minister Syed Abul Hossain and “Kaiser” is former foreign affairs state minister Abul Hasan Chowdhury, “Nixon” is the prime minister’s nephew Mujibur Rahman, “secretary” is former bridges division secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan and “Moshi Rahman” is the prime minister’s economic affairs adviser Mashiur Rahman.
“We tried to interrogate Mohammad Ismail, but failed to do so since he, by way of his lawyer, refused to talk to us about the issue,” he said.
He said the ACC team could not divulge more information to the media due to the restrictions of the Canadian court. “From April 8 to 19, the committal procedure of the case was held at Canadian court. However, deposition of the witnesses and findings of the case cannot be disclosed in the media due to the restriction,” he said.
“Since the court told us that if the information is leaked to the media, it could hinder the judicial process, we are not providing you with all the information. Necessary information will be given in due time,” he said.
The committal proceeding has already been completed, where Ramesh and Ismail were the main accused. The date of trial will be declared on July 10.
ACC Chairman Ghulam Rahman told journalists: “Whatever information the commission team has collected is satisfactory. If they need more information, they will visit Canada again.”
The ACC probe team has reportedly completed the Bangladesh part of the investigation and is waiting for the Canadian documents to complete the rest.
On April 3, the ACC investigation team submitted a preliminary report on the corruption allegations. The full report is due soon, said the ACC officials.
On December 17 last year, the ACC filed a case of “conspiracy for corruption in the Padma bridge project” against seven people, including former secretary Mosharraf, Bangladesh Bridge Authority Superintendent Engineer Kazi Mohammad Ferdous, Roads and Highways Executive Engineer Riaz Ahmad Jaber, Engineering Planners Consultant Ltd’s Deputy Managing Director Mohammad Mostafa, SNC-Lavalin’s Ismail and its former vice-presidents Ramesh and Kevin Wallace.
Among the accused, Mosharraf and Ferdous are now on bail, while Jaber is in jail. However, no steps have been taken against Mostafa. The names of two former ministers – Syed Abul Hossain and Abul Hasan Chowdhury – were dropped from the list of the accused. But the ACC said they would be kept under observation and their names could be added later if their involvement can be proven.
