The Civil Aviation Authority has decided to award one year contractual appointment to Habibur Rahman as Chief Engineer of CAAB despite being identified as a graft case partner of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's absconding military adviser Brig Gen (retd) Tariq Ahmed Siddique.
A source confirmed that the decision was taken at a board meeting at the CAAB office on Monday afternoon.
The CAAB will send an application to appoint employees on a contractual basis within two to three days. The officials and employees of CAAB expressed their anger over the decision to appoint employees on contract basis despite allegations of corruption against them.
The interim government on August 11 decided that all contractual appointments will be terminated in phases. The decision was taken at a meeting of advisory councils of the interim government held at State Guest House Jamuna.
Now question arises why then Habibur Rahman will be given contractual appointment as Chief Engineer of CAAB despite huge graft allegation against him. Moreover, he is retiring on March 23.
Habibur Rahman was sometimes stand released, sometimes made OSD, and sometimes without office as part of the disciplinary action taken against him during his career on corruption charges.
A concerned official of CAAB confirmed to the Daily Observer that the decision was taken to appoint him on contract basis. He said, "It was decided to appoint him on contract basis for one year in the board meeting." Some at the meeting said it would not be right to re-appoint him, but some board officials decided to appoint him anyway.
He also said Habibur Rahman is running around in various circles to get contract-based appointments. There are allegations that he has made a budget of at least Tk 10 crore. We are disappointed that a corrupt official was being appointed on contractual service."
The High Court has issued a rule asking why no disciplinary action should be taken against Habibur Rahman, the Chief Engineer of the CAAB. The bench of Justice Fahmida Kader and Justice Mubina Ashraf issued the rule on (February 23). The respondents have been instructed to respond within four weeks.
The petition was placed by Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Chowdhury Morshed Kamal Tipu, with assistance of Barrister Mohammad Solaiman Tushar. In the petition, the Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, the Chairman of CAAB, the Director (Administration), and Chief Engineer Mohammad Habibur Rahman were named as respondents. The court issued the rule after hearing the petition.
The notice stated that during the tenure of the previous Awami League government, under the leadership of Chief Engineer Habibur Rahman, the country's airports were subjected to massive corruption and embezzlement worth taka hundreds of crores.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has found evidence linking Habibur Rahman to the embezzlement claim. The ACC has filed four cases against Habibur Rahman and others for embezzling Tk 812 crore in the name of development of three international airports.
It is reported that several individuals, including former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's military adviser Brig Gen (retd) Tariq Ahmed Siddique, former aviation secretary Mohibul Haque, Joint Secretary Jonendranath Sarker, former CAAB chairman Mofidur Rahman, former chief engineer Abdul Malek, and the current Chief Engineer Habibur Rahman, have been named as accused in corruption cases related to various CAAB projects.
The ACC is investigating alleged corruption in the development of airports under CAAB, with ongoing investigations into Tk 32,605 crore worth of projects at 8 airports, including the Third Terminal at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital. Cases involving Tk 900 crore in corruption have already been filed.
In this regard, Barrister Mohammad Solaiman Tushar said there is no end to the allegations against the Chief Engineer of CAAB.
According to the case documents, around Tk 200 crore was embezzled from a project to install a radar system at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. Another Tk 250 crore was embezzled from the Third Terminal projects of the airport.
Tk 212 crore was embezzled from Sylhet Osmani International Airport expansion project, while Tk 150 crore was embezzled from Cox's Bazar International Airport Terminal and Runway Development Project, the ACC said.
