WIKILEAKS EXPOSÉ: Bangladesh
Abul a 'less than honest' man: Ex-US envoy
Dhaka, Sept 3 (bdnews24.com) — Former US ambassador in Dhaka James F
Moriarty branded communications minister Syed Abul Hossain as a 'less
than honest' man in his business dealings, according to cables leaked
by whistleblower WikiLeaks.
In his cable sent in February last year, Moriarty said prime minister
Sheikh Hasina was relying on the minister for the infrastructure
development projects she had pledged to the people.
"The [communications] minister, who has a reputation for
less-than-honest business dealings, remains focused on delivering the
infrastructure projects he and prime minister Sheikh Hasina have
promised to Bangladesh voters," Moriarty wrote in the summary of the
message.
He said that allegations of corruption had continued to surround the
communications minister.
The US ambassador, who completed his service in Bangladesh and
departed on June 17, made the comment on the basis of 'other
high-ranking government officials who acknowledged to the US problems
with the minister's way of doing business'.
Moriarty also expressed his concern over Hossain's 'close ties to
China'. He sent the cable after he had conversed with the
communications minister at a dinner party on Feb 3 last year.
WikiLeaks leaked the cables involving Hossain's affairs in its latest
releases on Aug 30.
PADMA BRIDGE AND JICA
Though the minister expressed satisfaction with the levels of support
donors planned to provide for the Padma Bridge project, which will
directly link southwestern Bangladesh with Dhaka and the more
prosperous eastern region of the country, he complained about the
Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) that it was insisting
on dividing the contract for the bridge into two parts.
The Japanese proposal to split the bridge into two structures, Abul
said, would allow two different contractors to put blames for any
problems on the other contractor.
He had told Moriarty that the proposal of JICA that pledged $500
million for the bridge was opposed by the government and other donors.
According to him, the World Bank pledged $1.5 billion for the bridge,
the Asian Development Bank $550 million and the Islamic Development
Bank $130 million, primarily in soft loans.
He, however, asked the US envoy to use his good offices with Japan and
US support for the World Bank and ADB to urge JICA to reconsider its
stance. Moriarty said several US firms would be interested to get the
job of dredging involving the construction of the bridge.
Apart from the Padma Bridge, Abul told the US envoy that his 'two
other linchpins in the infrastructure-for-elections plan' were to
expand Dhaka-Mymensingh and Dhaka-Chittagong highways. He told
Moriarty that he had already awarded seven contracts to the foreign
firms, mainly Chinese, and three others to local firms.
RAILWAY AFFAIRS
The minister urged the US to support a Dhaka infrastructure project to
build an elevated road and rail crossing that would be 'tangible proof
of the strong US-Bangladesh relationship'.
"We need a visible USAID project in the metropolitan area," he told
Moriarty. He also described several steps to modernise the country's
railway.
He said the prime minister assigned him to develop an elevated rail
system in Dhaka to ease the city's traffic crisis. JICA had expressed
its interest to fund the project.
The minister also said the government had a plan to transform
Bangladesh Railway into an independent, still the government-owned,
entity from its current structure as a government-run enterprise.
Moriarty, in his cable, said Abul was 'confident that these plans to
corporatise and then perhaps privatise Bangladesh Rail would greatly
improve its efficiency and quality of service'.
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