The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has decided to send its legal adviser Anisul Haque to Canada to observe the trial and participate in the hearing of the corruption conspiracy case against SNC-Lavalin employees in the Padma Bridge project.
The hearing will be held on September 9 and the commission official is likely to fly to Canada a day before the hearing, ACC sources said.
“The hearing of the Padma Bridge conspiracy case in Canada is scheduled for September 9. The commission has decided to send one of its officials and he has already applied for visa. As soon as he gets the visa, he will fly to Canada to attend and observe the hearing,” commission chairman M Bodiuzzaman told the Dhaka Tribune on Sunday.
The commission has reportedly finished the Bangladeshi part of the investigation and is waiting for Canadian documents for wrapping up the investigation.
The commission chairman on July 24 told reporters that ACC needed to have information and documents from Canada to submit charge sheet on the Padma Bridge scam.
He told the media: “It is the first time that the commission has witnessed such a case. We cannot prove the allegations against the accused without the diary of Ramesh Saha.”
In May, a two- member team consisting of ACC legal adviser Anisul Haque and investigation officer Mirja Jahidul Alam went to Canada to collect information on the alleged corruption over the appointment of a supervising consultant for the Padma bridge project, to question SNC-Lavalin official Ramesh Saha and former director (international projects) Mohammad Ismail and to procure a copy of the much talked diary of Ramesh.
The diary is believed to hold valuable information, including the names of those receiving payoffs from the Canadian engineering firm. However, the team returned empty-handed.
It has been learnt that the diary contains a list of 10-12% commission receivers, allegedly including former communications minister Syed Abul Hossain, former state minister for foreign affairs Abul Hasan Chowdhury, prime minister’s nephew Mujibur Rahman, former Bridges Division secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan and prime minister’s economic affairs advisor Mashiur Rahman for the Padma bridge project. A 2% commission was set aside for someone whose name was not mentioned.
