Crippling Corruption by Awami League regime

[idune]

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Anti-graft steps crucial: Okada

Fri, May 4th, 2012 3:11 pm BdST

Dhaka, May 4 (bdnews24.com) – The Japanese deputy prime minister, Katsuya Okada, has urged Bangladesh to take effective anti-corruption steps for ensuring transparent spending of Japanese taxpayers' money.

Okada made the remark at a press briefing at the Shahjalal airport before his departure for Colombo on Friday.

Japan so far provided about $10 billion in aid to Bangladesh.

The Japanese minister in reply to a question said it could not finance the Padma bridge project alone and would be in touch with the World Bank to break the deadlock.

The World Bank, the lead financier of the $2.9 billion project, has stalled the funding process over a corruption allegation. The Asian Development Bank, JICA and Islamic Development Bank are the other financiers.

He, however, said: "We remain committed to the project."

Metro rail project

Okada said the Metro rail project was under "active consideration" of Japan.
Bangladesh is negotiating with different development partners to implement the big project aimed to reduce traffic jam in the capital city.

Japanese investment

The minister said the Japanese companies were interested in investing in Bangladesh but poor infrastructure and shortage of gas and power held them back.

He hoped that Japanese investment would rapidly increase after the improvement of the infrastructure situation in the country.

Human rights

The minister in reply to another question said that he guessed there were some human rights problems in the country, which he said had to be resolved domestically.

The Japanese minister came to Dhaka on Thursday on a two-day visit and met prime minister Sheikh Hasina and leader of the opposition Khaleda Zia, and held official talks with foreign minister Dipu Moni.

Anti-graft steps crucial: Okada | Bangladesh | bdnews24.com

[idune]

World Bank has asked Awami League regime to know about the corruption on six communication projects.World Bank wated to know what action Awami League regime taken against corruption and people involved?


Report in Bangla:
Daily Amardesh -????, ?????? ?? ?? ????, ?? ????? ????, ?? ??????? ???? ???? ?????

[idune]

Bangabandhu name beacame symbol and vehicle for Awami League corruption.

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Allegations of foul play over space satellite plan need to be probed

IT IS indeed a matter of great pride that the process to launch Bangladesh’s first space satellite in under way. It is also befitting that the satellite has been named ‘Bangabandhu-1’ after the founding president of the country, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Unfortunately, however, as a three-part series of investigative reports published in New Age on May 17, 18 and May 23 points out, the tender process for the prestige project, for the country and especially the government led by the

Awami League, seems to have been plagued with irregularities — administrative, regulatory and, presumably, financial — in the selection of its consultant. As the reports show in substantial details, not only the family of a senior member of the cabinet but also the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission may have been involved in such irregularities.

First of all, the small US consultancy firm that has been awarded the $10 million contract falls short of a number of minimum requirements that should have disqualified it from even participating in the tender process. For example, while the expression of interest document states that ‘any firm’ that wishes to participate in the tender should have ‘at least fifteen years of experience in the industry’, ‘a successful record in providing consultation for at least ten satellites’ and ‘direct experience with various spacecraft platforms from several spacecraft manufacturers’, Space Partnership International was only registered as a company in the United States on November 24, 2009, less than a year before the expression of interest was published. Intriguingly, the BTRC overlooked the obvious shortcoming and accepted the application on the ground that the firm was in a joint venture with another US company, RKF Engineering Limited, which has ‘the requisite experience of a minimum of 15 years’, thereby meeting a provision in the Public Procurement Regulations 2008 that if two or more companies come together the qualifications of any one of the partners can satisfy any particular tender requirement. As it turns out, these two companies are not even in a joint venture, a fact confirmed by both Space Partnership and RFK.
Yet, the Space Partnership made it to the short list of five candidates for technical evaluation, which, according to the BTRC, found the small US company with barely a dozen employees to be the only applicant to have obtained an average score of more than 80, requiring only its financial bid to be opened. However, one of the evaluators said that two companies had scores of more than 80, and that Space Partnership with 81 was, in fact, a distant second to Globecomm Systems Inc, which scored 92 but was eventually disqualified under questionable circumstances. That’s not the end of the story, though. The vice-president of business development at Space Partnership happens to be the brother-in-law of the younger brother of the civil aviation and tourism minister, which naturally has raised questions that the family link among the quarters concerned may have had a role to play in influencing the tender process.

Overall, the controversy over the selection of the consultancy firm seems to have become a low point for the space satellite project and could undermine the credibility of the BTRC in particular and the government in general. Hence, for the sake of transparency and its own public image, the government needs to initiate a competent and credible inquiry into the allegations and, if the allegations are found to be true, even arrange for a re-tender. Meanwhile, the US government needs also to run its own inquiry under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; after all, the company in question is based in the US.

New Age | Newspaper

[idune]

Three part investigative report on Awami League corruption using the name Bangabandhu and creating a cult. Bangabandhu now sysmbol of Awami League corruption.

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Bangabandhu space satellite tender-1
US bid winner doesn’t meet tender requirements

David Bergman

The small US company that won a $10 million consultancy contract to assist in the launch of Bangladesh’s first space satellite, Bangabandhu-1, beating some of the largest satellite companies in the world, failed to meet a number of minimum requirements that should have prevented it from even participating in the tender, New Age can reveal.

The paper’s inquiries have also found that the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission misled a procurement review tribunal, set up following an appeal by one of the losing companies, into believing that the winning company Space Partnership International was in a ‘joint venture’ with another company that did meet those requirements.

The $10 million deal was signed in March 2012, by retired major general Zia Ahmed, the chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, and Bruce D Kraselsky, the managing director of Space Partnership International.

The ceremony in Dhaka took place in the presence of the US ambassador Dan W Mozena.
On November 11, 2010, the BTRC director general sought ‘expression of interests’ from international consultancy firms interested in obtaining a contract to assist it in the ‘entire process’ of launching a satellite named Bangabandhu-1.

The BTRC received 31 applications. Following consideration of the nine criteria set out in the expression of interest document, an evaluation committee shortlisted seven bidders who were then each invited to respond to a ‘request for proposals.’

One company that should have been excluded at this point from proceeding to the second stage was Space Partnership International, the eventual winner of the tender.

The expression of interest document states that ‘any firm’ that wishes to participate in the tender ‘should have at least fifteen years of experience in the industry,’ ’a successful record in providing consultation for at least ten satellites,’ and ‘direct experience with various spacecraft platforms from several spacecraft manufacturers.’

Space Partnership International was, however, only registered as a company in the US state of Delaware on November 24, 2009. This is less than a year before the expression of interest was published.

In this short period, the company could not have fulfilled these other two requirements.
The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission argued that Space Partnership International was eligible to apply as it was in a ‘joint venture agreement’ with another US company, RKF Engineering Solutions Ltd, which has ‘the requisite experience of a minimum of 15 years.’

The BTRC was referring to a provision in the Public Procurement Regulations 2008 which suggests that if two of more companies come together in a ‘joint venture, consortium or association,’ the qualifications of any one of the partners to the joint venture can satisfy any particular tender requirement.

However, both of the companies which the BTRC claim were together in the joint venture have admitted to New Age that they are not part of any such arrangement.
Phil Rubin, RKF’s president and chief executive officer, on the phone from the United States, said that his company was ‘not in a joint venture with Space Partnership International. We are simply a sub-contractor.’

Furthermore, during a recent trip to Dhaka, Bruce Kraselsky, one of the founders of Space Partnership International, also said that his company was not part of a joint venture, ‘We have a strategic relationship [with RKF Engineering Solutions]. We are not in a joint venture.

Space Partnership International is the prime contractor for this contract. RKF Engineering is a sub-contractor on this project.’ Unlike companies in joint venture agreements, the qualifications of a subcontractor cannot satisfy a requirement imposed upon the main applicant.

It is unclear why the BTRC thought that there was a joint venture agreement. In the letter of invitation drafted by the BTRC which lists the names of each of the seven applicants who had won through to the next round, only the name ‘SPI, USA’ is mentioned. There is no mention of ‘RKF Engineering’ which would have been expected it if had been part of a joint venture.
In addition, in its subsequent detailed application to the BTRC, parts of which have been seen by New Age, Space Partnership International did not claim that it was in a joint venture. It instead referred to RFK Engineering as being, along with four other businesses, one of ‘its team of partners.’

Furthermore, according to Rule 54 of the Rules of Procedure 2008, if the two companies were applying as a joint venture, they would have had to provide the BTRC with either a joint venture agreement ‘signed by all legally authorised representatives’ or a ‘letter of intent’ to execute such an agreement signed by all partners together with a copy of the proposed agreement.
According to the two companies, this was not done.

Moreover, inquiries by New Age can confirm that even if the two companies had been in a joint venture, RKF Engineering’s experience could have not been sufficient to meet the 15 years’ minimum requirement.

RKF Engineering Solutions was registered as a company in Delaware on December 20. 2002, only nine years before the publication of the BTRC expression of interest.

On its web site, RKF Engineering says that it ‘evolved’ out of another business Rubin, Bednarek and Associates which was founded in 1983, with some staff moving from one firm to another. However, as the two businesses were separate legal entities, the years that Bednarek and Associates existed cannot be added to those of RKF Engineering.

New Age can also reveal that BTRC gave false information to a procurement review panel. The panel was set up by the Central Procurement Technical Unit when another applicant in the tender process Globecomm Systems Inc complained about the integrity of the tender process.

The BTRC’s chairman Zia Ahmed claimed in a signed statement to the tribunal that ‘SPI, USA has submitted its technical and financial offer for the said RFP in joint venture with RKF-Engineering Inc… [which] has the requisite experience of a minimum of 15 years.’

This was not correct information; there was no joint venture agreement and, even if there were, RKF Engineering Solutions only had nine years of experience.

It was on the basis of this factually inaccurate submission that the procurement review panel ruled that Space Partnership International’s application met the criteria.

The BTRC chairman told New Age, ‘There was an [evaluation] committee. They had gone through all the documents. And they have recommended. They have gone through each and every document of each and every applicant. Each and every company has given their documents to satisfy the expression of interest.’

When asked whether he personally had misled the procurement committee, he said, ‘The [review panel] has gone through whatever we submitted to them and [the review panel] has given whatever their comments to the government. They have listened to us and listened to Globecomm.’

Md Rezaul Quader, a senior member of the committee that shortlisted the seven applicants including Space Partnership International when he was a BTRC director general, told New Age, ‘At present I have no idea what happened. I cannot remember as the papers are not with me now. But this matter was solved, there was a joint venture or something like that with another big company and they are the people that now come to Bangladesh all the time.’

Bruce Krazelsy told New Age, ‘I think the contract could be interpreted in different ways. Each of the key employees that were part of the bid, I think there was ten, more than 30 years experience.’

‘RKF Engineering has been in business for more than 15 years and the level of expertise that they have is even greater than ours which is 30 years plus. Companies morph and change and grow all the time, the continuity of the people is really the essence of what we have,’ he added.
‘We are confident that the selection process was conducted properly and that we were selected because we were the most qualified.’

He, however, failed to respond to detailed questions about how Space Partnership International met the tender qualification when the ‘firm’ only had one year’s experience and it was not in a joint venture with a company that did meet the conditions set out in the expression of interest letter.

New Age | Newspaper

[idune]

Bangabandhu space satellite tender II

BTRC manipulates evaluation to advantage small US company

David Bergman

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission manipulated the results of the technical evaluation of tender proposals from five international companies, each of whom were bidding to assist the government in the launch of the country’s first space satellite, to ensure that a small US company won the contract.

A New Age investigation has found that Space Partnership International, which in
March 2012 signed a $10 million consultancy contract with the government, only won the tender after another applicant, which had received a much higher score in the technical evaluation, was disqualified in highly contentious circumstances.

Inquiries also show that the BTRC was aided in this manipulation by Space Partnership International which provided the regulator with misleading information.
This disclosure comes a day after New Age reported that the winning company had not even met the minimum tender requirements and should not have been shortlisted for the technical evaluation.
In May 2011, a seven-member evaluation committee led by one of the BTRC’s commissioners, Mallick Sudhir Chandra, and also comprising of three further BTRC staff members and three other non-BTRC government employees, started the process of technically evaluating the proposals of the five shortlisted applicants.

According to the BTRC version, Space Partnership International, a small US company with barely a dozen employees, was the only applicant to obtain an average of more than 80 marks, requiring only its financial bid to be opened.

New Age can, however, reveal that one of the five applicants, the large US public company Globecomm Systems Inc, received a far higher score.
‘When the scores of all the evaluators were averaged out, two of the companies
received over 80 marks,’ one of the evaluators told New Age. ‘Space Partnership International received about 81 marks but Globecomm received around 92 marks.’
At a meeting of the evaluation committee in early June, a piece of paper was distributed summarising all the marks given.

‘I could see that not only had Globecomm received an average of over 90 marks but that each of the seven members of the committee had given Globecomm over 90 marks,’ the person added.
Another evaluator confirmed this scoring.

It is at this stage, New Age has learnt that the evaluation committee came under pressure from within the BTRC to disqualify Globecomm on the basis that it broke a condition in the tender which prohibited applicants from having ties to satellite manufacturers.

The claim that Globecomm was involved with manufacturing was first made in a letter, dated June 8, 2011 and titled ‘confidential,’ which Space Partnership International’s managing director Bruce Krapelsy sent to the BTRC’s evaluation committee chairman.

The letter stated that Globecomm was ‘a manufacturer and supplier of ground-based systems directly related to the satellite industry.’Krapelsky supported this contention by pointing to wording on Globecomm’s web site which refers to the company’s ‘engineering expertise’ producing ‘a wide range of satellite and wireless terminal products.’

On the basis of this letter, the evaluation committee disqualified Globecomm. ‘[I]t was found from the contents of [Globecomm’s] web site that it was offering satellite earth stations and related equipments as its products,’ it stated. Space satellite experts have, however, told New Age that it is not correct to claim that Globecomm was involved in manufacturing.

Robert Bell, executive director of both the Society of Satellite Professionals International and the World Teleport Association, a US-based satellite industry trade association whose members include Globecomm, told New Age, ‘The company is not a manufacturer. It is a system integrator.’
‘In the space satellite sector, there is a clear distinction between manufacturers who make the components and integrators who buy the already manufactured components and create a system from them,’ he added. ‘I have never heard of Globecomm being talked about as being involved in manufacturing.’

Andrew Smith, president of a European ground systems company and who once worked at Globecomm, confirmed this. ‘The company has nothing whatsoever to do with the manufacturing of ground stations. They are not manufacturers, but integrators.’

New Age has also confirmed that members on the BTRC evaluation committee, none of whom have any expertise in the satellite sector, did not seek an expert opinion on the accuracy of Space Partnership International’s claims.
According to one evaluator, the BTRC chairman, in fact, specifically rejected this suggestion at a meeting he arranged with the evaluation committee after it had completed its scoring.
‘It was suggested that it would be a good idea to get an expert to assess whether Globecomm should be disqualified. But the chairman said that there was no time for that,’ a person who was present at the meeting told New Age.
In addition, if reference to ‘producing products’ and ‘engineering’ on a company’s web site was the basis for disqualification, the application of Space Partnership International, the company that won, would also have to be under question.
This is because the web site of RKF Engineering Solutions Ltd, the company with which Space Partnership International had applied for the tender, has a whole section titled ‘Products and services’ which stated that ‘RKF offers a host of products’ and is ‘working with… manufacturers.’
Globecomm appealed against its disqualification to a procurement review panel in September 2011.
At the hearing, the BTRC supported its view that Globecomm had ties with manufacturers by claiming that the company had acquired a ground station division of the satellite manufacturer, Matra Marconi.
In response, Globecomm told the panel that the division purchased in England was not involved in the manufacture of satellites or earth station equipment and that the subsidiary company that Globecomm had created to run the division was in any case closed down in 2006.
The review panel, however, did not believe the company and ruled that that ‘because Globecomm could not prove one of the vital conditions of the RFP documentarily… it is conclusive proof that Globecomm Systems Inc has a ties/interest with Matra Marconi who is a satellite manufacturer.’
The satellite expert Andrew Smith, who used to work for the Matra Marconi division before it was purchased by Globecom, however, told New Age that the division ‘had nothing to do with manufacturing of satellite or ground system. It was just involved in earth station system integration.’ In addition, records filed with the UK’s ‘Companies House’ corroborate what Globecomm said about the establishment and sale of the company.
Before Space Partnership International could sign the contract, one further obstacle was placed in the BTRC’s way and New Age has discovered that this forced the government regulator to change the actual scoring given by the technical evaluation committee.
‘In the middle of February 2010, six months after all the evaluations were done, I was asked to sign a sheet which had new scoring for Globecomm. In the new sheet, the total scoring for the company was now below 80,’ one of the evaluators told New Age.
This was confirmed by another committee member.
The BTRC changed the scoring as the cabinet’s purchase committee had asked to see the score sheet relating to the disqualified bidders.
‘There was no meeting of the evaluation committee to consider this. I was told that since Globecomm had a conflict of interest which disqualified it, its technical scoring should be lowered,’ the person added.
In response to a detailed set of questions about the evaluation process both Bruce Krapelsy, Space Partnership International’s managing director, and Zia Ahmed, the BTRC’s chairman, told New Age that the selection process was conducted ‘properly’ and that the company was selected because it was the best qualified.
Krapelsy said, ‘Our focus is now on helping BTRC to achieve its objectives with respect to the construction, launch and implementation of the Bangabandhu satellite system.’
At an earlier meeting, when asked how such a small company managed to beat much bigger companies, Krapelsy told New Age, ‘We found our way through as we were clearly the best. We brought a very unique combination of expertise to this project that none of the other players had from a complete perspective.’
The BTRC chairman, a retired major general, however, denied any intervention in the process.
‘The entire responsibility for the evaluation was with the evaluation committee. Whatever they recommended I sent to the government. I was not aware of what was going on with the evaluation.’
About whether he placed any pressure on the evaluation committee, he said, ‘The evaluation committee was absolutely free to decide on everything and my point was only that they should consider all the [tender] requirements.’
He said that he did not know what happened at the purchase committee. ‘I was not present. It was the chairman of the assessment panel who attended.’
The chairman of the assessment panel declined to comment. His term as commissioner ended on April 26, 2012. He is waiting to hear whether he will be reappointed commissioner for another term.
Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of the Transparency International Bangladesh, told New Age, ‘Before proceeding any further on the project, the government should constitute a fully-fledged independent investigation in order to establish, without any bias or influence, if any violations took place, in which case the bidding process should be re-opened and the wrongdoers should be handed exemplary punishment.’
He also called on the US government to ‘conduct due investigations… in case the US company or any associated quarter has been involved in any malpractice and abuse of power,’ he said pointing out that the US ambassador was present at the contract signing ceremony.

New Age | Newspaper

[idune]

Daily Amardesh -????, ?????? ? ??? ????, ?? ??????? ????, ?? ??? ???? ?????

[idune]

Awami League regime let whitening black money so its party man can make up for paid up capital requirement of new bank license.



Source: ?????? ???????????? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ?????: ???? ??????? :: ???? ? ??????? :: ???????? ?????

[idune]

More rental power plants, more subsidy and more looting by Awami league. Awami League even pay when these power plants owned by Awami League party man when they produce below capacity. This is wholesale looting at cost of Bangladesh economic destruction.

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More rental plants on cards despite fuel crisis

Special Correspondent

The government is going with a plan to set up 27 new rental power plants at a time when the existing 24 rental and peak-hour rental plants have already caused a severe drainage to the country’s foreign exchange reserves to pay for the bills of additional oil imports.
The government is planning to set up them in 2013 and 2014 keeping in mind the election year, knowledgeable sources said, adding it may have a direct or indirect bearing on the next polls. This is what is influencing the policy makers, they added.


“It looks like an insensitive decision,” former adviser of the caretaker government Dr Mirza Azizul Islam said about the move pointing to the macroeconomic destabilization that may be arising out of the soaring import bills for oil in one hand and the surging subsidies on the other.

The very fact is that the government is buying fuel at a higher cost and supplying to the rental power plants at a highly subsidised rates thus increasingly forcing the public to bear the burden of cost.

The government is moreover buying electricity from these plants at a soaring rate to sell it to the public at a lower rate, again forcing the public to pay for the loss. The transfer of such billing loads on the public is taking place with frequent increase of the electricity tariff along with upward price adjustment in the prices of fuel.

The government is again paying for the unutilised capacity of the rental power plants as and when the authorities are failing to supply them with necessary fuel, and this is how the rental power plants have appeared as a critical issue having devastating impact on the nation’s macroeconomic fundamentals.

This is what Dr Mirza Azizul Islam said adding that he does not believe any more number of rental power plants alone will be able to reduce load shedding and resolve the power crisis. He laid emphasis on setting up large power plants at reduced tariff rates to provide electricity to the nation at affordable cost.

It has direct bearing on economy and business, besides affecting people at every household, he said adding why the government is not doing it and instead focusing more and more on short term response at a huge loss to the nation.

Prof Ijaz Ahmed of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) hit at the issue from another perspective. He believed the government may be doing it to reduce load shedding in the forthcoming election year when any power shortage may have a negative impact on the voters. He, however, did not elaborate.

But Prime Minister’s adviser on energy Dr Taufique-e-Elahi looks at it from quite another perspective. He said until there is enough local sources for energy supply for big power plants, uncertainty will persist. He criticized the nation’s failure to finalize a coal policy and start coal mining. He said setting up coal-based power plants is the only long-term solution at a time when gas supply is dwindling.

The opposition has however criticized the government for promoting cronyism in the country’s power sector by awarding unsolicited contract to persons and business houses closer to the ruling establishment.

They are giving contract at a huge cost and transferring resources from the national exchequer to party funds, BNP leaders recently said pointing to the growing load shedding at a time when the government has set up so many rental power plants to solve the crisis.

Holiday

[idune]

TIB concerned over PDB's unsolicited deal on Bibiana-1 power project


FE Report

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has expressed its grave concern over the reported move by Power Development Board (PDB) to award the Bibiana-1 power project on the basis of an unsolicited deal.

In a press release issued on Wednesday, TIB demanded strict adherence to the due process of public contracting, particularly to ensure unrestricted and fully competitive selection process in accordance with the relevant rules which will also be consistent with the electoral commitment of the government.

Reacting to the media report on the PDB request for government clearance to the unsolicited deal, TIB executive director, Iftekharuzzaman said "while we appreciate the sense of urgency that may have prompted the move, we call upon the relevant authorities not to take any decision that may question the government's commitment to ensure transparency and accountability in decisions of public interest".

This is particularly important in the backdrop of offers earlier made to the same company reportedly under debatable circumstances, not least also because the government is under watchful eyes of the people of the country regarding the fate of the Padma Bridge, he added.

"It is also incumbent upon the government to examine whether the company that was earlier offered the project should be held accountable for any costs to the nation, at least, in terms of the delay and unmet expectations for its failure to deliver within the stipulated time. One company's failure cannot be allowed to push the government into further reputational and financial risks. TIB considers this experience to have given the government enough justification to take preventive and punitive measures for such deals in future against all risks of non-delivery", the press release added.

"We are aware of the immunity that the government has granted itself to quick decisions in the energy sector by a special legal provision. Nevertheless, in greater national interest, and for the government's own credibility, we call upon the government not to give in to any unfair pressure and to ensure that other credible interested companies are called upon to take part in a reopened bidding process of Bibiana-1 so that transparency and accountability are ensured, and the nation gets the best possible deal," the press release further said.

TIB concerned over PDB's unsolicited deal on Bibiana-1 power project

[idune]

Corruption likely to eat up big budget funds

Faruque Ahmed

Parliament passed the national budget for 2012-13 on Thursday last with an expenditure outlay of Tk 191,738 crore targeting 7.2 percent GDP growth in the next fiscal year.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith said it is not a big budget, though having the highest expenditure outlay so far for a country striving to become a middle income nation by the next decade.

The major opposition BNP has similarly said it is not a big budget in terms of the size of the country’s population and their expectations. But they raised the question whether the government will be able to implement the budget and whether it will be able to mobilize the necessary fund to execute it.

Not only BNP, many people hold the view that the fate of the national budget largely depends of the proper utilization of its funds but unfortunately the government lacks an efficient administrative machine to deliver it.

Moreover, the flow of external budgetary support is declining in the past few years in view of the government’s differences of views on critical issues with the donors’ community. Disbursement of their funds was quite poor with the pipeline swallowing in the past several years and there is no sign of immediate change in the situation.



Padma Bridge

Meanwhile, the Padma bridge scam involving the World Bank and other major donors and their funding of $2.9 billion for the bridge project has pushed the government image at its lowest to the global community.

It is also affecting their funding of other projects, pushing the government to resort to heavy borrowing from the country’s banking sector and this in turn is creating severe liquidity crisis in the banks.

Private sector is becoming marginalized from credit as a result and experts believe that if the government wants to achieve its annual growth target, any slow down of the funding of private business and investment will be disastrous.

Here the government’s decision to secure Tk 140,000 crore from internal revenue appears a highly ambitious target – up from around Tk 92,000 crore this year. Moreover its bank borrowing target at Tk 23,000 crore may be a boomerang to private sector at a time banks are already tired of acute fund shortage.

In this situation pervasive corruption in the government at all levels, tender snatching, unsolicited business contracts at highly inflated project costs, misuse of funds by ministers, MPs and other ruling party leaders and workers have become the biggest threats to quality of public expenditure from budgetary allocation.

The budget, based on Tk 50,000 crore deficit has raised the question of the quality of public expenditure to a new height. Besides, the size of the annual development programme (ADP) at Tk 55,000 crore gives the impression that almost the entire expenditure on ADP for 2012-13 is somewhat based on deficit financing.



Poor paying more

Civil Society Organizations have raised the question of the justification for the introduction of new VAT in this background saying, the budget is forcing the poor and the common people to pay more while the rich are enjoying its benefits. Our tax system is contrary to what is noticeable in the developed nations, they said. EquityBD and other rights organizations held a human chain last Wednesday in front of the National Press Club before the wrap up of the budget in Parliament and demanded a review of the new VAT proposals to make them people friendly instead of supportive to the rich.

They said in the USA and other European countries direct tax constitutes 70 percent of the government revenue while the reverse is true in case of Bangladesh. Here 70 percent of revenue comes from VAT and its incidence is directly hitting the poor, low and middle income people while the benefits of road development, subsidy to fuel and gas and other utility services is essentially going to the rich. The new VAT proposals has sought expansion of its network covering industrial raw materials, factory productivity and marketing of products, besides household essentials, food grains, edible oil and common services. It is punishing for the poor, they said.

Critics said the Finance Minister is having his hand on everything to collect fund for the government at a time when much of it is going to end up in misuse and corruption. They said the budget is not having strong anti-corruption measures and windows for ensuring greater transparency and accountability for users of public fund.

Contrary to it, the government periodic lump sum allocations to MPs gives the impression of transferring fund on political motives. Critics wonder why the government expenditure on public administration is only soaring without any attempt to bring it down.



Lacklustre performance

Pointing to some other nations, Civil Society Organizations said countries like India is constantly at work to further widen its austerity programs to save public money while the Bangladesh government is only paying lip services to such issues. Whitening black money is one such anti-people policy focused on serving the interest of vested interest groups, they said.

The budget is withdrawing subsidies. The government is very frequently increasing the prices of fuel, gas and water and fertilizers to reduce its burden on the state exchequer. But in doing so it is directly passing the load on the common people which also include the transfer of questionable and excessive cost for rental power plants.

The question, therefore, is if the money saved from state subsidies is not properly used for public causes and instead going to add to the windfall profits of business houses such as the owners of quick rental power plants, there is hardly any justification for the common people to pay such tax at all.

The budget has remained fraught with such misgivings, critics said demanding more transparency and accountability to the use of public fund next year.

Holiday

[idune]

World Bank cancels Bangladesh bridge loan over corruption

The World Bank has pulled out of a project to build Bangladesh's largest bridge, citing corruption concerns.

In a statement, the bank said it was cancelling its $1.2bn (£764m) credit for the 6km-long (four miles) the road-rail bridge across the Padma River.

It accused the government in Dhaka of failing to investigate claims of high-level fraud in connection with the project. Bangladesh has so far not commented on the World Bank's decision.

'Unsatisfactory' response

"The World Bank cannot, should not, and will not turn a blind eye to evidence of corruption," the Washington-based institution said in the statement on Friday.

It said that the bank had provided evidence of corruption from two investigations to Bangladesh's government last September, asking to suspend officials suspected of corruption.

It also said it had sent a high-level team to Dhaka to fully explain its position on the issue

But Dhaka's response, the statement added, "has been unsatisfactory".

The corruption allegations also involve two former executives from Canada's engineering company SNC-Lavalin.

The company has been under investigation by Canada's prosecutors for more than a year, and the two executives now face charges of trying to bribe Bangladeshi officials.

The Padma bridge project aims to connect Bangladesh's principal sea ports and link to the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway.

Analysts say that some 30 million people in the region could directly benefit from the new road and rail connection.

At present all traffic across the Padma has to rely on ferries, which are infrequent and often unsafe.

BBC News - World Bank cancels Bangladesh bridge loan over corruption

WB cancels Padma bridge fund

Sat, Jun 30th, 2012 9:37 am BdST

Washington, June 30 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) -- The World Bank has cancelled a $1.2 billion (764 million pounds) credit for Padma bridge project with immediate effect, saying it has "credible evidence" of a high-level corruption conspiracy among Bangladeshi government officials.

"In light of the inadequate response by the government of Bangladesh, the World Bank has decided to cancel its $1.2 billion ... credit in support of the Padma multipurpose bridge project, effective immediately," the World Bank said in a statement on Friday.

The Washington-based development institution said it had provided evidence of corruption from two investigations into the Padma bridge project to Bangladesh's prime minister and other senior government officials in an effort to press for action.

The 4-mile (6-km) bridge is meant to link the country's underdeveloped south with the capital Dhaka and the main port of Chittagong.

The bank's decision to withdraw from the project follows an "unsatisfactory" response from the government in dealing with the corruption allegations. The bank said it had sent a high-level team to Dhaka to fully explain its position and get a government response.

"The World Bank cannot, should not, and will not turn a blind eye to evidence of corruption," the bank said. "We have both an ethical obligation and a fiduciary responsibility to our shareholders and (International Development Association) donor countries."

Earlier this week, two former executives from Canadian engineering company SNC-Lavalin Group Inc, which bid to supervise the contractor on the project, appeared in a Toronto court on Monday accused of bribing officials in Bangladesh.

The executives Ramesh Shah and Mohammad Ismail were arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in February following a 2011 raid on SNC-Lavalin offices. SNC-Lavalin is one of the world's largest engineering companies.

Canadian authorities launched an investigation last year into alleged corruption in the bridge bidding process after the World Bank brought the issue to their attention.

There was no immediate response from Bangladesh's government on the World Bank's decision.

WB cancels Padma bridge fund | Business | bdnews24.com

[idune]

AL Minister Ramesh Sen publicly announcing govt's nepotism & corruption

[idune]

Space satellite tender
Sufficient evidence to trigger FBI corruption probe: US lawyer

David Bergman

The FBI should consider conducting an investigation into whether a US company, which won a contract to assist the Bangladesh government in launching the country’s first space satellite named Bangubandhu 1, had committed offences under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a senior US corruption lawyer told New Age.

Dan Pickard, a partner in the Washington-based law firm, Wiley Rein LLP, and a specialist in US business corruption offences, said that the evidence about the $10 million deal, disclosed by New Age in a series of articles published in May, was sufficient to ‘trigger’ a US police investigation even though there was no evidence of corrupt payments.

‘In my view the circumstances that appear to exist in relation to this tender concerning the Bangladesh space satellite, where a US company has won a contract even though it reportedly did not meet the minimum tender requirements, itself should be enough to trigger an FCPA investigation,’ he said. ‘It is certainly reasonable to expect them to conduct an investigation.’
New age’s articles published in May showed that Space Partnership International not only failed to meet the minimum tender requirements but won the contract despite receiving a significantly lower score in the technical evaluation compared with another US company, Globecomm Systems Inc, which was then improperly disqualified.

The articles also revealed a network of family and business connections in which the vice-president of the winning company was related to Farid Khan, who is both the brother of minister Faruk Khan and also the director of Summit Communications which was a junior partner in the deal.

Both Space Partnership International and Farid Khan deny any wrongdoing. The company has stated that the selection process was ‘conducted properly’ and ‘we were selected because we were the most qualified.’

Earlier, in response to a written parliamentary question about the tender, the posts and telecommunications minister, Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju, also denied that there was any ‘corruption and irregularities’ in the selection of the consultant. He pointed to a review panel of the Central Procurement Technical Unit which had concluded, after receiving a complaint from one of the losing consultants, that ‘the tender process was completed in an appropriate manner.’
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which became law in 1988, makes it an offence for any US citizen or company to give bribes or offer any inducement to a government official of another country in order to obtain or retain business.

The US embassy, whose ambassador was present at the signing of the agreement between the government and Space Satellite International, has refused to comment on whether it has referred the case for investigation. ‘We do not comment on possible ongoing cases and matters of investigation,’ Kelly McCarthy, the embassy’s Press and Information Officer, told New Age.
‘The US embassy takes seriously any allegations regarding violations of US law, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,’ she added. ‘We evaluate these allegations on a case-by-case basis to determine whether the evidence presented justifies a referral for further investigation.’
The Department of Justice also declined to comment.

Pickard, a corruption law expert who has written a manual about the legislation concerned, said that an FCPA investigation could be started even though there was ‘no smoking gun of evidence of a corrupt payment or an offer to pay.’

‘I wouldn’t be surprised if they investigate a case like this, particularly considering that Bangladesh is a country which has a high corruption rating by such organisations as Transparency International,’ he said.

However, another lawyer was more cautious. ‘What sometimes happens in these situations is that contracting rules are violated simply to award the contract to a friend or relative, but there are no “under the table” payments involved, and hence no FCPA implications,’ said Scott Thomas, the head of the political law practice at Dickstein Shapiro.

‘So, while I think there certainly are bases for investigation here — violation of contracting rules, conflict of interest rules, and providing false information rules — I’m not seeing a basis for an FCPA investigation yet,’ he told New Age.

The call for an FCPA investigation is likely to increase as New Age can reveal that in signing the contract with Space Partnership International, the Bangladesh government appears to have paid over $3 million more than the bid made by Globecomm, the company which was improperly disqualified after receiving the highest technical score A Globecomm official told New Age that its bid was about $6.5 million compared with Space Partnership International’s offer of around $10 million.

The claim could not be independently confirmed as its bid was not opened by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.

The claim, however, does correspond to the signed statement made by Globecomm to a procurement review panel that looked into the deal. This stated that ‘the company understands that the financial offer of SPI, USA is much greater than [Globecomm] has quoted in its financial offer.’
The company official also told New Age, ‘$10 million is a large amount of money for the actual amount of work that needs to be carried out.’

The Department of Justice has made enforcement of the FCPA one of its priorities.
In November 2011, assistant attorney general Lanny A Breuer told a conference, ‘The Justice Department has been vigorously enforcing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and achieving strong results. … [J]ust two weeks ago, we secured the longest prison sentence — 15 years — ever imposed in an FCPA case.’

Iftekharuzzamn, the executive director of Transparency International, told New Age that he supported a ‘credible investigation by the relevant US authorities, such as the FBI, to establish whether [Space Partnership International] was involved in any irregularities like influence peddling and conflict of interest with or without kickbacks.’

Two former officials of the large Canadian engineering company SNC-Lavalin, seeking a consultancy contract supervising the construction of the Padma bridge, have recently been charged in Canada for corruption offences similar to those contained in the FCPA. The officials are accused of trying to bribe Bangladesh government officials.

The World Bank formally cancelled its financial support for the project recently alleging ‘a high-level corruption conspiracy among Bangladeshi government officials’.

New Age | Newspaper

[idune]

World Bank asked dismissal of Shekih Hasina's economic advisor Mashiur Rahman on Padma bridge corruption scandal

World Bank had asked to dismiss 3 key persons in Awami League regime on corruption charges. Former communication minister Abul Hossain, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s economic advisor Mashiur Rahman and secretary of bridge division.
This is perhaps the first time Mashiur Rahman name came out in Padma bridge scandal. Mashiur being known as most prominent indian stooge inside Awami League regime there must be great deal of resentment from india to keep him inside Hasina’s inner circle. Indian involvement in Padma bridege corruption is deeper than once understood.

Awami League regime from Prime Minister to street level Awami League leaders spewed venom against WB official including immediate past president of WB. Then Awami League regime deceiving people went to JICA to talk to WB on be-half of regime. But WB firmly convey through JICA that Mashiur Rahman and bridge division secretary need to be dismissed before any talk or re consideration. In the mean time there is only 6-7 days left before loan agreement with JICA and ADB expires and will not be renewed after the expiry.

Read the report in Bangla:
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[idune]

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Sheikh Hasina's lie and corruption on back to back London trip

Sheikh Hasina went to London twice recently with 36 some entourage with false information that she was invited on some hunger conference. In reality when queried British PM office who called on the conference said Hasina was not even officially invited, was not in the list of speaker in the conference and was not seen at conf site.

St. Pancras Renaissance hotel Sheikh Hasina stayed, average room cost is $400 USD. With 36 some people and airfare cost ran into hundreds of thousands of dollars for two back to back trips. Awami League for sure doing brisk business with looting and laundering money out of the country.

Report in Bangla:
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