Govt embarrassed; BNP asks minister to go; ACC to probe; Tk 70 lakh alleged to have come from recent recruitment.
Railway Minister Suranjit Sengupta received heavy flak from various quarters over the seizure of Tk 70 lakh from his assistant personal secretary's car Monday night and his handling of the matter afterwards.
The parliamentary body on railway ministry and officials of railway and other ministries alleged that Suranjit took the matter very lightly. They questioned how neutral the two probe committees, formed by the minister, would be when an officer of the same ministry would be investigating his subordinates.
Even the Anti-Corruption Commission joined the bandwagon yesterday. The watchdog said it would launch a probe into the minister's alleged involvement in the incident, reports Channel i, a private TV channel.
Meanwhile, the opposition BNP demanded the minister's resignation while the parliamentary body launched a probe into the ministry's handling of tenders over the last three years.
The money found in the car is believed to be bribes from railway job seekers.
On late Monday, Ali Azam, driver of Suranjit's assistant personal secretary Omar Faruq Talukder's car; with him, Railway's General Manager (East) Yusuf Ali Mridha and Chief Commandant Enamul Huq on board drove the car into the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) headquarters in Pilkhana in the capital. When guards at the gate rushed to the vehicle for unauthorised entry, the driver told them there was bribe money stashed in the car. The guards discovered Tk 70 lakh in the car and they detained the four.
adesh (BGB) headquarters in Pilkhana in the capital. When guards at the gate rushed to the vehicle for unauthorised entry, the driver told them there was bribe money stashed in the car. The guards discovered Tk 70 lakh in the car and they detained the four.
The BGB personnel wanted to hand them over to police but police refused to receive them saying there was no case filed against them. Faruq, Yusuf and Enamul were eventually released but the driver is said to be still in BGB custody.
The Daily Star failed to reach the driver for comments despite repeated attempts on his two mobile phones.
BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir during a demonstration in the capital against price hike of essentials called for Suranjit's resignation. He said the minister should shoulder the responsibilities of what has happened, reported UNB.
Suranjit, clearly on the back foot, held a press conference yesterday and said Faruq and Yusuf had been asked not to come to work until further notice.
“This was unwarranted,” Suranjit Sen Gupta told the press, adding, “In a country like ours, this kind of incidents has happened before. This incident has created problems for me. I will face it.”
When the press asked if he had suspended them, he was rather vague and said, “You can also think like that if you want.”
However, after the seizure of the money the minister had told a press briefing at Rail Bhaban that the two would continue work since they have not been proved guilty of any wrongdoing. He denied that Enamul was even in the car.
Late last night, Suranjit's personal secretary sent a letter to the secretary of the ministry informing him of Faruq's suspension from yesterday morning.
Sources in the railway said Rail Sramik League, ministers, lawmakers, ruling party leaders and a section of corrupt railway officials were taking bribes from job seekers. The railway ministry recently started recruitment of 7,500 people.
A senior railway official on condition of anonymity said, “Tk 2 lakh to 5 lakh is being taken from each candidate.”
During the meeting of the parliamentary body on the railway ministry at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban yesterday, a number of lawmakers came down heavily on the minister over the issue.
They even questioned how an APS has a lawmaker's sticker on his personal car.
The parliamentary body yesterday formed a five-member sub-committee headed by lawmaker Shah Alam to probe alleged irregularities in awarding tender under the ministry's various projects in the last three years.
BNP MP Rehana Akhter Ranu, a member of the parliamentary body, demanded that the government forms a judicial probe committee for this. She said Suranjit must resign for the sake of impartial investigation.
Rehana said, “We believe the minister's APS and a general manager of the ministry were carrying the money to give him [Suranjit] as bribe in exchange for recruitments in the ministry.”
Other members, including a ruling party lawmaker, of the standing committee asked the minister about the alleged corruption in recruiting employees in the railway ministry.
Suranjit, also a member of the parliamentary body, said such incident was unexpected and he would place the enquiry reports of the two probe committees before the parliamentary body and take actions as per the committee's directives.
Suranjit refused Rehana's demand for judicial probe.
Talking to The Daily Star, several railway officials and employees said the three--Faruk, Mirdha and Enamul--should have been suspended immediately and an independent investigation body should have been formed.
Joint secretary (administration) of the railway ministry Shashi Bhushan Singha was assigned to investigate the involvement of Mirdha while minister's Personal Secretary Akhtaruzzaman was probing the involvement of Faruk.
“How can the minister's PS be assigned to investigate such an incident since both work closely?” a mid-level official told The Daily Star at Railway Bhaban yesterday. He said an official of the ministry could not probe irregularities of an official of the same ministry.
Another junior official said he suspected that proper investigation would not be possible by the probe committees. “Officials of other ministries could have easily been engaged in the probe,” he said, requesting anonymity.
Another official said, “There are allegations that many of us are chor [thieves]. This is the proof of that.”
The official said if Yusuf was quizzed, everything would be revealed.
Meanwhile, the Railway Bhaban yesterday looked desert since morning as almost no senior officials attended work.
GOVT, AL EMBARRASSED
The government and the ruling Awami League were embarrassed by the incident, The Daily Star found out after talking to several leaders and ministers.
However, none agreed to make official comments.
“It is really embarrassing for the government and the party as well at this time [late part of the government's tenure],” said a minister requesting not to be named. “It is a very sensitive matter…”
The minister said they would discuss the matter with the prime minister upon her return from Turkey on Saturday.
Highly placed government sources said that before her departure, the prime minister has asked the railways minister to suspend his APS immediately.
Awami League Deputy Office Secretary Mrinal Kanti Das, however, said there might be a conspiracy behind the incident. It could have been staged to disgrace the government.
ACC TO PROBE
Anti-Corruption Commission Chairman Ghulam Rahman yesterday said the commission would investigate the allegation of bribe against Railways Minister Suranjit Sengupta.
“There used to be no investigation into any allegation against ministers in the past, but now the graft watchdog will probe,” he said, addressing the concluding ceremony of a training programme for the newly-appointed 28 ACC Assistant Directors, reports UNB.
The ACC chairman also said the commission would also conduct an investigation into the allegations of corruption in the Padma bridge project and against the company Destiny 2000.
