The Biman Bangladesh Airlines authority has made two of its officials 'officers on special duty' for their alleged involved in corruption and giving some travel agencies special favours.
The officials are former country manager of Biman at the United Kingdom Shafiqul Islam and acting director of Biman's marketing department Ashraful Alam. Allegation of embezzling around Tk 16 crore was brought against the two senior officers of the national flag carrier.
The decision of making them OSD was taken at the board meeting of the Biman on Tuesday. Following the Tuesday's decision, the authority on Wednesday issued an office order in this regard.
Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Md Mohibul Haque, also a director of the Board of Directors of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, told this correspondent that they have received several allegations against the corrupt officers. To investigate the allegations, a team from the Ministry will visit London soon. "The allegations, which were brought against the officers, will be investigated properly. If the allegations are proven, necessary actions will be taken against them," he added.
According to the Biman sources, during Shafiqul's four-year tenure in London, he had issued 2,472 free air tickets from the local station. Of those, all free ticket recipients have travelled to Dhaka from London and back. Of the travelers, 1,136 persons have enjoyed business class tickets while 1,336 persons enjoyed economy class tickets.
Mohibul said issuing of such a number free tickets cannot be accepted. He will have to prove that he has issued the tickets during his tenure, unless he will have to face music.
