ACC seeks documents from different instts

Staff Reporter :
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has issued a letter to different institutions seeking documents about Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority’s (WASA) Managing Director (MD) Taqsem A Khan for investigation into the alleged of corruption, irregularities and illegal recruiting.
ACC’s Deputy Director (DD) and also investigation officer sent the letter on Monday (October 17).
The recipients of the letter were WASA MD, President of Dhaka WASA employee Multipurpose Cooperative Society, Manager of Arab Bangladesh Bank Ltd (AB Bank), Karwan Bazar Branch, BRAC Bank Bijoynagar Branch Manager, Janata Bank Karwan Bazar Manager and Office of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms.
ACC asked all the recipients to send the attested documents of PPI deal, WASA’s account opening form, KYC, signature card and bank statements.
ACC asked them to send required documents within October 20.
Taqsem was first appointed to the post of WASA MD in 2009. Despite controversies and criticism, his tenure has been extended six times. At present, he receives Tk6. 25 lakh per month as salary and allowances. There have been allegations of not maintaining policies properly in extending his tenure.
There are many other complaints against him, including increasing project costs, syndication in the appointment of contractors, bribery, appointing his favourite people by creating posts, etc. He also imposed certain conditions for the selection of consultants and contractors for projects so that only a certain number of contractors can participate in the competition.
According to an Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) report, WASA projects are not completed on time. In many cases, the work is not done according to the design and specification of the project. There is widespread corruption in the installation of privately owned deep tube wells, metre reading, and revenue collection.
Apart from this, using political identification and taking bribes in exchange for work has become a common practice in the selection of contractors.
Also, more than Tk132 crore of the Dhaka WASA Employees Multipurpose Cooperative Society was embezzled from six banks with the direct help and instruction of WASA MD Taqsem A Khan, which was revealed in an Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) audit in 2018-2020.