Staff Correspondent

Former Chief Engineer of Public Works Department and currently the Director General of House Building Research Institute ( HBRI) Md Ashraful Alam is under the survilence of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and there are massive allegations against him and his family members for acquiring crores of taka through massive irregularities and corruption.

Controversial contractor GK Shamim had a deep connections with this former PWD chief engineer and allegedly he got 15 percent commission instead of doing substandard work opportunities and he has acquired a huge amount of wealth for himself, his wife and children at home and abroad with the money earned through recruitment and transfers .

A two-member investigation team headed by Anwarul Haque, Deputy Director of ACC has been formed to investigate into the massive allegations. The investigation team has sent letters to various government departments to inform them about all their movable and immovable assets. The letter asked to submit the information by March 20 and in the meantime huge information has already poured.

According to ACC, Engineer Ashraful Alam earned a huge amount of money through bribery and commission business during his tenure as the Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department and during his tenure in various offices under his jurisdiction.

Accusations have been submitted to the ACC that he has bought immovable and immovable assets in the name of himself and his wife and children from these illegal funds.

The commission investigates the complaint and submits a report to the deputy director of the organization.

An investigation team comprising Anwarul Haque and Assistant Director Mohammad Noor Alam Siddiqui was formed. As part of the investigation, the ACC investigation team wrote to the RAJUK chairman on March 12 to send the documents to the ACC if there are any houses, plots, flats, shops under RAJUK in the name of Ashraful Alam and 5 members of his family. At the same time letters were sent to various banks, National Board of Revenue and REHAB.

In the letter signed by Assistant Director Mohammad Noor Alam Siddiqui, a member of the investigation team, it is said that an investigation is underway against 6 engineers including engineer Ashraful Alam for embezzlement and various corruption and illegal wealth allegations.

For the sake of fair investigation, it has been requested to send the houses, plots, flats, shops under Rajuk in the name of Engineer Ashraful Alam, wife Sabina Alam, children Jarin Tasneem, Nishat Tasneem, Fariha Tasneem and Ahnaf Saraf to the ACC before March 20.

When asked about this, an official of the investigation team told this correspondent that an allegation of acquisition of illegal wealth by Ashraful Alam is being investigated.

As part of the investigation, letters have been sent to various departments seeking details of their assets. In the wake of that letter, some information has started coming to the ACC. After getting all the information and verifying it, the inquiry report will be submitted to the commission.

According to the complaint tabled by the ACC, Engineer Ashraful Alam has close links with the alleged Jubo League leader and the contractor of the controversial GK Shamim syndicate. He got 15 percent commission from each project in exchange for getting the contractors work. Apart from this, Ashraful Alam was once an Executive Engineer in Sherebangla Nagar Division-1 of Public Works Department.

During his tenure there, from February 12, 2008 to August 6, 2009, he hired 300 voucher-based employees with a bribe of Tk 3 lakh per month. There are allegations of corruption against him in the implementation of 560 model mosques and Islamic cultural centers in each district and upazila under the Ministry of Religious Affairs .

Apart from this, there are allegations of corruption against him in the implementation of National Ophthalmology Institute and Hospital Construction Project at a cost of Tk 133 crore.

According to the ACC, earlier in August 2019, the ACC started investigating the corruption allegations against Ashraful Alam and his wife Sabina Alam. At that time, Meftahul Jannat, assistant director of the organization, performed the duties of the investigation officer. ACC's initial inquiry then found information on his known acquisition of non-income assets.

As part of the investigation, two separate notices were sent to Ashraful Alam and his wife Sabina on January 9, 2020, seeking asset statements. In the notice signed by ACC Director Kazi Shafiqul Alam, Ashraful Alam himself, his wife and all their dependents, movable and immovable properties, liabilities, source of income and details of its attainment are asked to be submitted within 21 working days in the prescribed form.

At that time, engineer Ashraful Alam started trying to get immunity from ACC, at one point he was successful. He was accused of spending huge sums of money to get immunity from the ACC.

When this incident was brought to the attention of the High Court, on June 21, 2022, Justice Md. Nazrul Islam Talukdar and Justice Kazi Md. Izarul Haque Akander heard the matter and that bench ordered a re-investigation into the allegations of illegal acquisition of wealth by Ashraful Alam and his family members.

At the same time, the ACC asked the lawyer to appoint a new investigation officer, excluding the previous investigation officer of the ACC.

Ashraful Alam, a BCS 15th batch engineer, joined the Public Works Department as an assistant engineer in 1995. In 1998, he was appointed as Sub-Divisional Engineer, Executive Engineer in 2007, Supervising Engineer in 2016, Additional Chief Engineer in 2018 and Chief Engineer of Public Works Department on December 31, 2019. It is also alleged that he paid a bribe of Tk 20 crores to get promoted to the post of Chief Engineer of PWD.

When Ashraful Alam was called several times to seek his comments in this regard , he did not response.