5 govt officials held over Tk25,000cr graft at Pirojpur LGED
Recent investigations uncovered serious irregularities, including over Tk2,500 crore paid to contractors for incomplete projects and account discrepancies involving Tk1,101 crore
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has detained five government officials over corruption cases linked to the Pirojpur office of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED).
The detainees are Mohammad Mohasin, district accounts and finance officer; Superintendents Md Masum Howlader and Md Nazrul Islam; former district accounts and finance officer Md Alamgir Hasan; and AKM Mozammel Haque Khan, accountant at the Pirojpur LGED office.
They were taken into custody on Wednesday night (16 April) and are currently being held at the Pirojpur Sadar Police Station, said Md Aminul Islam, deputy director of the ACC's Integrated District Office in Pirojpur.
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The Pirojpur LGED office drew national attention after allegations of widespread corruption surfaced following the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August last year.
Subsequent investigations by teams from the Local Government Division and LGED headquarters uncovered serious irregularities, including over Tk2,500 crore paid to contractors for incomplete projects and account discrepancies involving Tk1,101 crore.
Following its own probe, the ACC found the allegations to be credible and on Tuesday (15 April) filed eight separate cases accusing 23 individuals of corruption.
"There is concrete evidence of widespread graft involving officials from both the LGED office and the district accounts office," added ACC Deputy Director Aminul Islam. "We have filed eight cases against 23 individuals, and so far, five have been arrested."
