Investigation into Padma Bridge project corruption begins
Following the recent controversy of Bangladeshi communications
minister Syed Abul Hossain's failure in properly maintaining road
communication infrastructure in the country, causing death of a few
hundred people only during 2010, the minister possibly is going to
fall into a real ditch, as international authorities have already
started investigating a serious allegation of corruption and
irregularity related to US$ 2.9 billion Padma Bridge project in
Bangladesh. If the alleged case of heavy bribery related to the Padma
Bridge project, the communication minister will be the second
Bangladeshi national caught for receiving bribe from any international
company, after Arafat Rahman Koko [son of the former Prime Minister]
was already caught to have received huge amount of bribe from Nico.
Syed Abul Hossain is considered to be one of the most influential
ministers in Bangladeshi cabinet.
After the first-ever foreign bribery guilty plea by Nico Resources
Inc, which admitted to bribing a Bangladeshi junior energy minister,
who was paid off with the use of a car and a paid trip to Canada and
the US, Canadian authorities raided the offices of SNC-Lavalin Group
Inc. outside Toronto on Thursday in connection with a corruption probe
into the engineering giant's work on a World Bank-funded bridge
project in Bangladesh. A spokeswoman for the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police [RCMP] confirmed the raids. Without mentioning the Padma
project, Leslie Quinton, SNC-Lavalin vice president of global
communications, said it was "assisting the RCMP in their investigation
on a specific case in which they requested our collaboration."
"We are complying fully with their requests and are not aware of any
reason that would warrant such an investigation," she said. "Because
the situation is under investigation, we cannot comment any further."
The RCMP launched the probe following a referral from World Bank
officials about alleged corruption in the bidding process for the
Padma Bridge project. RCMP spokeswoman Const. Julie Morel confirmed
that the force had executed search warrants at several locations as
part of an investigation of SNC-Lavalin employees Thursday.
A World Bank spokesman said RCMP executed search warrants in "several
locations" following a referral by the Bank's anti-graft unit, which
is investigating allegations of corruption in the bidding processes
for the Padma Bridge Project in Bangladesh. The World Bank signed a
40-year deal in April 2011 to lend US$ 1.2 billion to Bangladesh to
build the four-mile bridge over the river Padma. The bridge will link
Bangladesh's underdeveloped south with the capital, Dhaka, and the
country's main port, Chittagong. Once completed, it would be the
largest bridge in the country.
"We have been informed that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is
investigating employees of SNC-Lavalin for violations of Canadian
law," the World Bank spokesman said. "We commend the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police for its robust response to the World Bank referral and
look forward to the outcome of its investigation."
The World Bank is leading a consortium including the Japanese
government, the Asian Development Bank and the Islamic Development
Bank that agreed last year to provide Bangladesh up to US$ 2.9 billion
for the bridge. The raid by the RCMP is the latest indication Canada
is more aggressively pursuing allegations of corruption abroad by its
companies. The case is the second this year involving Bangladesh. The
bridge, about 50 km south of Dhaka, is expected to be completed by
2014, improving transportation between Bangladesh and other countries,
and establishing a missing link along the longest corridor under the
Asian Highway Network that connects Tokyo to Istanbul.
The World Bank last week outlined its increased efforts to prevent and
deter fraud and corruption. Over the past year, the bank said its new
Preventive Services Unit had helped build precautions against fraud
into 48 high-risk projects in 29 countries with a total value of US$
14.1 billion. The bank said it had trained over 2,700 government
officials and bank staff on how to conduct forensic audits and
identify suspicious transactions.
http://www.weeklyblitz.net/1749/investigation-into-padma-bridge-project
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