At least Tk 25,000 crore has been looted in the name of river dredging project of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) under the Ministry of Shipping in the last 15 years of the fallen Awami League government.
The entire cost of that project is shown to be spent on excavation work and dredging work, fuel purchase and repair work on various waterways in the country, according to sources.
In the past Awami League government has claimed to have restored navigability in 7,862km routes of country's 53 inland rivers through dredging or capital dredging in the last 15 years on paper.
There are allegations that engineers and contracting companies have colluded with each other to create fake bills and embezzled the thousands of crores of taka allocated in the name of the river dredging project on paper, without actually dredging the river properly.
Projects that did not bring any benefit to the country were also taken up only for political considerations to loot money.
One of the main planners of the implementation of these project Engr Rakibul Islam Talukder, Chief Engineer (Dredging) of BIWTA was illegally appointed to the Dredging Department of BIWTA.
Mohammad Saidur Rahman, Additional Chief Engineer (Dredging Division) of BIWTA was working as cashier of Rakibul Islam Talukder. The Shipping Ministry transferred Saidur Rahman to its Chattogram office two month ago for his alleged involvement with huge corruption.
Meanwhile, the authority has not yet taken any action against Rakibul Islam Talukder.
A high official of Shipping Ministry told The Daily Observer that Rakibul has abused the power of the past fascist government by illegally occupying the post of Chief Engineer (Dredging) and looted thousands of crores of taka.
Engr Rakibul said before August 5 under a master plan of dredging, the work of digging and retrieving 178 rivers designated for BIWTA started to make about 10,500 kilometres navigable in 2012. By 2025, the capital dredging work will be completed to restore the navigability of 10,000 km of river routes through various projects, he added.
The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) investigated Rakibul, for almost 5 years on charges of amassing undeclared assets worth thousands of crores of taka in name or anonymously through tender transactions, recruitment transactions, commission transactions, transfers and promotions.
In 2018, ACC filed charges against him for embezzling hundreds of crores of taka and amassing illegal wealth through corruption. Rakibul abused the power of the past government to influence the investigation and send it to deep fridge.
On July 8, 2023, Md Khorshed Alam, Assistant Director of the ACC's Special Investigation and Investigation-1 Branch, issued a letter requesting the submission of accounts of the movable and immovable assets of Rakibul, his wife, children, and his dependent family and individuals according to a specific schedule.
The ACC did not take any action against Rakibul as per the ACC Act, even though he did not submit his assets statement within the stipulated time as per the notice due to his close association with the fascist government.
This official, who abused his power by pretending to be a close relative of influential people during the Awami League regime, changed his mind overnight and became a BNP supporter after the Awami League government changed its tune.
During the fascist Awami League government, he also became the project director of several projects by force of power. He single-handedly embezzled huge amount of taka by preparing fake bills on paper instead of actually carrying out the work on various projects. No project could be carried out without his consent.
A reliable source in the ACC said that BIWTA's influential engineer Rakibul is the son-in-law of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's former public administration and political adviser HT Imam.
The project director is embezzling hundreds of crores of taka in collusion with the corrupt circle of contracting companies and BIWTA by doing a little dredging in reality and showing 60 to 70 per cent more work on paper than in reality.
Despite BIWTA having its own Hydrography Department, the dredging work of this project is not being surveyed through this department due to corruption.
