Staff Reporter :
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has found evidence of corruption in the Bangladesh Sustainable Recovery, Emergency Preparedness and Response Project (B-Strong) of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED).
The ACC’s Enforcement Team disclosed this information following a raid at LGED’s headquarters in Agargaon in the capital on Tuesday.
They revealed that Tk1,909crore was allocated for the B-Strong project for six districts in the Chattogram division – Feni, Noakhali, Cumilla, Lakshmipur, Chattogram, and Brahmanbaria – following the 2024 floods.
The ACC discovered evidence of abnormally high prices set for various project items even before the project activities began, which prompted today’s raid, said the enforcement team.
“Excessive expenses were shown in multiple sectors of the B-Strong project. We collected various information during the raid. The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved the project on 20 April,” ACC Assistant Director Papan Kumar Saha said after the operation.
“The project’s formal activities haven’t started yet, but we came to investigate based on allegations of inflated pricing for various project items. The person who prepared the DPT for this project was not present at the office today,” he added.
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Papan said, “The price for each street solar light in the project was set at Tk72,000, yet the planning commission indicated that these solar lights are not necessary. While 60 motorcycles were proposed, the planning commission suggested purchasing only 36.”
“The expenses shown for computers, laptops, various educational materials, and other items seemed abnormal.
Additionally, the price for four laptops was set at Tk11 lakh,” he added.
Of the Tk1,909crore for this project, the World Bank will finance Tk1,647 crore, and the Bangladesh government will fund the remaining amount.
Regarding this matter, LGED headquarters’ Assistant Chief Abdul Mannan said, “Our chief engineer is currently outside Dhaka. The project work hasn’t started yet; it has only been presented to Ecnec.”
Regarding the project corruption, he said, “If allegations of irregularities are found in any of our projects, action is immediately taken against those responsible, and they are suspended.”
“Suspensions are going on wherever irregularities are taking place,” Mannan added.
