Engr Habibur Rahman, appointed as Chief Engineer of Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) on November 28 last year, is a co accused in four graft cases for allegedly embezzling Tk 812 crore from four projects of three airports in the country.
Habibur Rahman was sometimes stand released, sometimes made OSD, and sometimes without office as part of the disciplinary action taken against him during his career on corruption charges. ACC quizzed Habibur Rahman, Superintending Engineer (P&D QM circle), of CAAB over the Cox's Bazar airport development project in 2020 over allegations of amassing wealth illegally. Meanwhile, he managed to become Chief Engineer of CAAB after the changeover of August 5.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) said its investigation uncovered that those high-ranking officials and private entities colluded to siphon off funds designated for infrastructure development.
A court in Dhaka on Tuesday set April 24 for submitting probe reports in four graft cases filed against 19 people, including Tarique Ahmed Siddique, former military adviser to ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and now Chief Engineer Habibur Rahman for allegedly embezzling Tk 812 crore from four projects of three airports in the country.
The probe centres on allegations of collusion, fraud and financial misconduct in the development projects of various airports over the past 15 years. Former superintendent engineer Habibur Rahman now Chief Engineer who also involved with financial misconduct in the development projects of various airports over the past 15 years.
After getting the post of Chief Engineer, he got busy with the work of emasculating his opponents, aside from development and renovation work. Meanwhile, a Junior Executive Engineer has been promoted as a Superintending Engineer in an unprecedented manner.
Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md Zakir Hossain Galib passed the order, accepting first information reports (FIRs) of the cases. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the four cases on January 27.
According to the case documents, around Tk 200 crore was embezzled from a project to install a radar system at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. Another Tk 250 crore was embezzled from the third terminal projects of the airport.
Tk 212 crore was embezzled from Sylhet Osmani International Airport expansion project, while Tk 150 crore was embezzled from Cox's Bazar International Airport Terminal and Runway Development Project, the ACC said.
The other prominent accused in the cases are former senior secretary of Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism Mohibul Haque, former joint secretary Janendranath Sarkar, former chairman of CAAB Air Vice Marshal (retd) Muhammad Mafidur Rahman, former chief engineer Abdul Malek and former superintendent engineer Habibur Rahman.
A significant aspect of the investigation centres on the radar installation project at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, which involved the French company Thales LAS and Aeroness International. According to ACC findings, despite Thales specializing in radar technology, Tk 150 crore was allocated for civil construction work, without clear specifications or competitive bidding.
They were quizzed by the anti-graft watchdog which is currently probing into the graft allegations over the Cox's Bazar airport development project, amassing allocations of various projects and accumulating wealth beyond known sources.
