Massive irregularities found in power deals: Adviser Fouzul
Committee member says strong evidence of corruption will emerge when legal process begins
Energy Adviser Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan said a national review committee found "massive irregularities" in deals including ones with foreign companies by the past regime under Quick Enhancement of Electricity and Energy Supply (Special Provision) Act 2010.
"Although the law was intended as a temporary measure, it became a recurring mechanism, opening the door to repeated misuse and lack of transparency," he told reporters after receiving the report of the National Review Committee headed by a retired High Court judge.
He added that the interim government decided in 2024 not to use this act any further due to growing concerns over irregularities.
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Retired High Court Division judge Justice Moinul Islam Chowdhury, who led the committee, said they submitted the "interim report" to the adviser and expected to submit the final report in January.
He said the committee found "massive governance failure" and "massive corruption" in the energy sector while there were gross irregularities particularly in signing the quick rental deals.
"In the course of reviewing power purchase agreements, we found there was massive corruption, fraud, irregularities and illegalities," he said, adding the committee prepared a separate report on power purchase deal with India's Adani group as well.
He said the committee took over a year to submit its interim report because of the complexities of the deals.
One of the committee members in reference to Adani group told reporters that contracts with foreign companies involved legal complications making it difficult to unitarily scrap the deals without exhausting necessary processes to evade high penalties.
"But we believe, you will get strong evidence of corruption when a legal process begins at home and abroad against Adani and a few other companies related to Adani who are involved in the corruption," he said.
When the electricity generation increased 4.4 times, the payment grew 11.1 times in between fiscal 2011 and 2024, he commented.
The five other committee members are: Professor of Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of Buet Abdul Hasib Chowdhury, Fellow Chartered Accountant and Former CEO of KPMG Bangladesh Ali Ashfaq, economist Dr Zahid Hossain, Professor Mushtaq Ahmed of SOAS, University of London and Jurist Dr Swadhin Malik.
