The most fatal fire incident in the history of Bangladesh Secretariat has burned the original report on thousands of crore taka corruption in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in the country.
The report was conducted on 21 projects worth 25,000 crore. Besides, several upcoming projects taken under the Awami League government were also investigated.
The fire incident took place just after three days of report submission on 22th December to the ICT adviser Nahid Islam.
Though the original report was burned at the secretariat, a separate copy is preserved the ICT Tower in Agargaon as the office of the investigation officer is situated there.
Additional secretary, and investigation committee head Mahbubur Rahman told Bangladesh Pratidin in this regard that the investigation mostly conducted from the ICT Tower and that’s why a copy was preserved here.
“Recently the main report of the investigation was submitted to the adviser,” he furthered.
Last Wednesday night four floors of Bangladesh Secretariat were burned in the most fatal fire incident in Secretariat’s history.
The Youth and Sports, Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, Labor and Employment ministries and Posts and Telecommunications Division, Local Government Division, Rural Development and Co-operatives Division, Road Transport and Highways Division were damaged before the fire service extinguished the fire after 10 hours of trying. The documents of all ministries and divisions have been burned to ashes.
A 13-member investigation committee, led by additional secretary Mahbubur Rahman, evaluated 21 projects undertaken by the Information and Communication Technology Division and its subordinate offices from 2009 to the 2023-24 fiscal years.
The committee was formed under the instructions of ICT adviser Nahid Islam on 8th August, while ICT division secretary Shish Haider Chowdhury supervised the investigation.
Later, policy advisor to the ICT division Fayez Ahmed Tayeb joined the investigation.
The investigation committee members were astonished seeing that about 10,000 crore taka was spent in excess of the required amount on the projects.
This expenditure was supervised by the former state minister for ICT, Zunaid Ahmed Palak.
The committee informed that the looting was happened in almost each and every project- the purchases were made at sky-high prices and the expenses were immense.
Several components and activities associated with the projects are not consistent with the project objectives and have been identified as unnecessary.
If these unnecessary parts are removed from the projects, the government can save 6,981.15 crore taka.
The committee said that many projects have been taken up that do not fall under the responsibility of the ICT division, resulting in a waste of money.
Significant amounts of money have been wasted in acquiring land for the establishment of ICT training and incubation centers and other construction projects implemented by the Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority, resulting in waste of money for land purchase, high land development costs, and construction of warehouses at the district and upazila levels that are too wide, too high, and too large than necessary.
The ICT adviser Nahid Islam told journalists after receiving the investigation report: “The Awami League (AL) introduced the ICT sector as the sector of terrible loot and mismanagement.”
“Many reports have been published,” he said, adding: “AL’s misdeeds have damaged the image of the country’s digital economy and digital transformation, and the country’s foreign debt situation has also become fragile.”
He said that he took the initiative to conduct a proper investigation to stop the wasteful spending and mega corruption in this sector and thanked the investigation team for its efforts.
He said that he instructed to include the recommendations within the next 100 days and instructed to ensure that this model of wasteful spending of the AL does not continue in the future.
Translated by Afsar Munna
