Allegation of irregularities raised against PD, contractor

Staff Reporter :
Allegation of irregularities has been raised in recruiting 92 employees through outsourcing basis for ‘Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Industrial Park Development Project’ under the Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA).
It is alleged that Project Director (PD) of the Park, Abdullah Al Mahmud Faruk, has pocketed about Tk 2.30 crore and embezzled the amount along with Asif Traders, a contractor hand-picked for supplying manpower through outsourcing basis for the project, which known as ‘Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagari Unnayan Prokalpa (BSMSN Project)’.
To earn the money, the PD has signed an agreement on a Tk300 non-judicial stamp as partner of Asif Traders illegally. At the same time, he has received a bank cheque of Tk46 lakh from the company in advance, according to the complaints and documents available to this correspondent.
Mentioning the allegations, a deprived contractor Humayun Kabir Himu submitted complaints to the Chairman of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), State Minister for Public Administration and Senior Secretary to the Public Administration Ministry on Tuesday last demanding a proper investigation over the PD’s alleged illegal activities.
The BEZA officials and employees, and contractors working with the authority also demanded probe and punitive measures for the PD’s illegal activities and allow the eligible contractors for supplying the manpower cancelling the illegal recruitment.
A total of Tk4,347 crore project is being implemented on 48,000 acres of land in Chattogram’s Mirsharai, Sandwip and Sitakundu, Feni’s Sonagazi and Noakhali Sadar.
 In the first phase, it’s being implemented in Mirsharai, Sitakundu and Sonagazi, while second phase will be implemented at Sandwip and Noakhali.
According to the complaints, a tender notice was floated in last December for recruiting 92 employees for the project through outsourcing basis. The terms of references of the notice were changed by publishing separate notices on December 15 last year and January 10 this year. Some 10 outsourcing manpower supplier companies participated in the bidding.
However, the PD cancelled the tender process in May this year and floated another notice on May 14 changing and relaxing the conditions. As a result, Asif Traders, owner of which company signed the agreement with the PD, got the work and supplied the manpower on outsourcing basis.
According to the conditions of the agreement, the company owner and the PD will hire 92 employees on outsourcing basis and take Tk 3 lakh and Tk 2 lakh from each of them. They will get Tk 2.30 crore by recruiting them and the amount will be shared equally among them as per agreement.
In the agreement, PD’s wife Rabeya Bashri was nominated his nominee while company owner Omar Faruk’s wife Ayesha Begum was nominated his nominee.