ACC files case against Prof Kalimullah, 4 others
Staff Correspondent
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against five individuals, including two former vice-chancellors of Begum Rokeya University, over allegations involving design changes, embezzlement of funds, and advance bill payments to contractors.
ACC Director General Akhtar Hossain confirmed the matter to the media on Wednesday.
The accused in the case are: former Vice-Chancellor and Project Director of Begum Rokeya University A K M Nur-un-Nabi, former Vice-Chancellor Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah, former Executive Engineer Jahangir Alam, contractor A. Salam Bacchu, and contractor M. M. Habibur Rahman.
ACC Director General Akhtar Hossain said that through collusion, criminal breach of trust, and abuse of power, the accused ignored the approved DPP of the Begum Rokeya University development project, altered the design, executed a contract worth over Tk 30 crore without approval from the ministry or department, deposited the security deposit deducted from the contractor’s running bill as FDR in a bank, and approved a no objection certificate for providing a loan to the contractor against the FDR lien, thereby acting as guarantor and embezzling Tk 4 crore of government funds.
He further said that despite no provision for advance payments in the contract with the contractor, financial assistance was shown as a reason to collect bank guarantees and make advance payments. The bank guarantees given against the advance bills were released even before settling the bills. In addition, a second consulting firm was appointed in violation of public procurement rules without adhering to the drawings/designs provided by the first consulting firm. Moreover, tenders were not evaluated as per PPR 2008 despite unusually high bid prices or front-loading.
These allegations constitute punishable offenses under Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947, and Sections 409 and 109 of the Penal Code.
