The former director-general of Bangladesh Water Development Board, Shahidur Rahman, denied the allegations of enjoying benefits as a freedom fighter through certificate forgery.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) interrogated him yesterday for his alleged involvement with the forgery of freedom fighter certificates to extend his government job tenure.
ACC Assistant Director Selina Akhter interrogated him from 3pm to 5pm at the headquarters, an ACC official said.
The former DG appeared before the commission after being summoned for the fourth time by the commission. Earlier during his tenure at the Water Development Board, the commission sent him three notices for questioning on his alleged involvement with corruption.
Every time, he ignored the commission’s notice and later the ACC dropped the charges.
Requesting anonymity, an ACC official said Shaidur was still very powerful. “We are already being lobbied not to run an inquiry against him,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.
The former DG was supposed to face ACC interrogation on November 20, but he requested an extension and finally appeared before the anti-graft body yesterday.
After the interrogation, he talked to the journalists and claimed that all the allegations against him being a fake freedom fighter is false.
He claimed the reports on his fake freedom fighter certificate were completely wrong. He claimed he was a real freedom fighter and got his government job under the ‘freedom fighter’ quota.
However, he could answer when asked why his name was not found in the Mukti Barta (red book).
On April 25, 2010, the Water Development Board BWDB sent a list of 160 employees claiming to be freedom fighters to the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs in order to verify whether the documents they had submitted as proof of identity were valid.
The ministry, in its reply, approved 32 employees as freedom fighters and said it could not find any valid information on the remaining 128 employees that could prove they were freedom fighters. Shaidur was one of the 128 employees.
In the document Shahidur submitted as the proof of his identity, he claimed that he had taken part in the Liberation War under Sector 2 Commander Major Haider.
But the ministry could not find any evidence that validated his claim, nor could it find his name in the Mukti Barta, the ACC official told the Dhaka Tribune.
Shahidur joined the Water Development Board as assistant engineer in 1977. The commission is also looking into the possible existence of assets he acquired illegally.
