The Public Administration Ministry on Tuesday formed a one-member probe committee to investigate the allegations against a Joint Secretary of the ministry of receiving a cheque of Tk 3 crore as bribe from an aspiring deputy commissioner (DC) candidate Abdul Awal, who was appointed DC of Naogaon recently.
Public Administration Ministry Additional Secretary Md Rezaul Maksud Jahedy will be the head of the committee. Besides, Ministry's Deputy Secretary (Planning-1) Liakat Ali Shaikh will provide necessary secretarial supports to the committee, which was given three working days to submit its report.
Following the report published in a Bengali newspaper, the Public Administration Ministry formed the body. Ministry's Deputy Secretary (Admin-1) Abul Hayat Md Rafiq signed the notification.
The probe body has been asked to examine authenticity of the cheque and facts about the incident.
According to the report, a cheque of Tk 3 crore was recovered from the room of Joint Secretary (Appointment, Posting and Deputation Wing) recently. The cheque was signed by a businessman Mirza Sobed Ali, who is closed to Deputy Secretary Abdul Awal, who was appointed as DC of Naogaon.
According to the allegation of Mirza Sobed Ali, the Joint Secretary (APD wing) Dr Zia Uddin Ahmed was previously well known to him and Abdul Awal was also closed to him. Responding to the request of Abdul Awal, he contacted the Joint Secretary for appointing Awal as DC of a specific district.
According to the condition, he has given a cheque of Tk 3 crore from his own account to the Joint Secretary for the posting and Abdul Awal was made DC of Naogaon. But, after paying only Tk 50 lakh, Awal is not giving him his money back to pay the Joint Secretary as per their commitment. Awal told him that he has not got his desired posting, so he will not pay the money, Sobed Ali claimed.
