Is the government of Sheikh Hasina any more interested in pursuing the Padma Bridge project vigorously with the World Bank? Some minister’s are still talking about beginning the work on the Padma Bridge by early next year and have the credit for it in the hustings by the end of that year. The World Bank who leads the consortium of major lenders of that project has however made it clear that release of its funds for the project would be dependent on the result of “credible” investigations into allegations of high-level corruption conspiracy in the implementation of the project, now being conducted by the Anti-Corruption Commission of Bangladesh under close monitoring and guidance by a panel of international experts appointed by the World Bank. Early this week, the country representative of the World Bank publicly urged the Anti Corruption Commission to expedite its investigation of the allegations of attempted corruption in the Padma Bridge project.

As if in response, on October 23, Legal Advisor Anisul Haque told reporters that the ACC had initiated a probe into the graft allegations in the largest-ever infrastructure project of Bangladesh, the Padma Bridge on its own and that the World Bank started pressing for an investigation later: “The World Bank made the graft allegations later. So, the World Bank is a complainant organisation to the ACC. It’s essential to interrogate some WB officials for the sake of investigation.”

Chairman Ghulam Rahman, however, later clarified: “It will be a discussion, not interrogation. We’ve requested them to discuss the information they have given over the corruption charges in the Padma bridge project. There is no question of questioning them.”
Haque said they would send the relevant documents that the World Bank’s external panel sought from the ACC by Thursday (October 25): “We had sought time from the World Bank team to provide the documents. The documents have been made ready and will be sent as early as possible.”
On this point he was contradicted squarely by ACC Chairman Rahman who said all the papers had already been sent.

Haque said further: “We’re yet to hear anything about the findings from the Canadian probe. We hope that the World Bank officials will cooperate with us to this end.”
Canadian police had arrested former SNC-Lavalin executives Ramesh Shah and Mohammad Ismail, along with Chief Executive Pierre Duhaime, in February this year. They were formally charged in April with graft conspiracy in the Padma bridge project.

The Anti-Corruption Commission appears to have reckoned that the non-availability of the findings and the charges of the Canadian Police is stumbling block to its further investigations. The tone of ACC legal adviser Haque’s press-briefing also seems to suggest the ruling party, of which he is one of the dynastic faithful, is now resigned to the fact that implementation of the Padma Bridge may not start ahead of the next general elections. Expert in blame game for electoral stock, the ruling party is now keen on picking up “controlled bouts” of quarrel with the World Bank, who can be the propaganda scapegoat in the election campaign end of next year. The ruling party had already tried out about of propaganda to whip up nationalist sentiments by a national bid for internal resources mobilisation for the project, when the World Bank announced its loan-cancellation at the end of the last financial year.

Officials of the Integrity Department of the Washington-based World Bank had raised graft allegations into the Padma bridge, leading to Cancellation of World Bank’s $1.2-billion credit for the $2.9-billion project on June 29. The World Bank claimed it had credible evidence of a corruption conspiracy involving Bangladeshi officials, executives of Canadian engineering giant SNC-Lavalin and some private individuals. The World Bank decided to revive its loan commitment on Sep 21 after the Bangladesh government agreed to its terms and conditions, and appointed an external panel early this month to oversee the ACC investigation.

The three-member panel had visited Dhaka and held several meetings with the ACC’s top officials. The style of Haque’s press-briefing at this stage has therefore been interpreted by some sceptics as indicative of a fix that the ACC finds itself in under the government’s fresh deal with the World Bank.
But blame game exercises are increasingly becoming ineffective in obtaining favourable results for the government. A joint statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission and Odhikar castigated the governments attempts to make political capital out of the unprecedented incident of commercial attacks arson and vandalism of Bohddha temples and homes in Ramu and other places. The statement read:

“The investigation into the attack upon minorities, its process and outcome, and subsequent handling of the event by the Government Bangladesh is highly questionable. The incident in question is the arson of properties of the minority communities, particularly of the Buddhists and Hindus in Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong districts that occurred on 29 September.
The Probe Committee headed by the Additional Divisional Commissioner of Chittagong and comprising of a civilian officer and two police officers, claims that the Committee has completed its investigation on 13 October. However, the government has suppressed the report. .......
“What is available till date are some snippets of opinions made by the members of the Committee. The victims have demanded an independent judicial investigation, since they do not trust a government-sponsored committee and their intensions.
A number of Buddhist clergy have already objected the police action that implicates some political opponents of the ruling regime as responsible for the arson. For example, the President and the Secretary of the Pashchim Ratnashashon Teertha Sudarshan Bihar Management Committee have prepared notarised affidavits on 18 October suggesting that they are not satisfied with the government’s versions of the event. The affidavits allege that they received support from Mr. Mahmudul Haque Chowdhury and one Mr. Darbesh Ali, two prominent public figures from the locality to prevent the attacks upon the local Buddhist monastery. Both Mahmudul and Darbesh are however accused by the police for attacking and looting the monastery.

The media have quoted the Committee, when it reported that Mr. Tofail Ahmed, a leader of Jamaat-E-Islam and the Chairman of Naikkhongchhari Upazila Parishad of Bandarban district, were the mastermind behind the entire incident. The local leaders of the ethnic communities that were under attack challenged this version of the Committee also in a press conference held on 21 October at Cox’s Bazar.

Irrespective of the truth behind these statements made by the Buddhist and other ethnic community leaders, the government owes the responsibility to provide answers to the public. It is however a sad reality that what is now available in public space is mere rumours about the Committee’s findings.
By suppressing the investigation report the government has denied the people’s right to know the truth. It must not be for the government to decide what and who led the arson attacks. It is for a court to decide, since arson is a crime. Instead by hiding the probe report, the government is contributing immensely in generating public speculation and creating rifts between communities where relationships are already strained.

Apart from that the local police have detained some persons as suspects. These persons have already withdrawn their statements from the courts, alleging that state officers tortured them and forced them to confess to crimes they have not committed. The allegation of torture must also be a subject for investigation, since torture is also prohibited in Bangladesh. It is also reported that the persons currently in custody accused of the crime have been threatened by the state officers that they would be extra judicially executed in a cross-fire, if they refused to give statements as directed by the state officers.”

The Awami League is adept at propaganda build-up for election strategy. If it is now engaged in a crisis build up to conceal its abject failure in governance and it’s draining of national resources by corrupt practices, it is doubtful that the disillusioned public will be distracted.

(Source, Weekly Holiday, 02/11/2012)