The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against former information ministers Hasanul Haq Inu and Mohammad Hasan Mahmud and six others over the alleged embezzlement of Tk6.65 crore allocated for a bronze mural of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Bangladesh Betar.
ACC Deputy Assistant Director Md Mostafizur Rahman filed the case with the commission's Integrated District Office, Dhaka-1, today (18 October), ACC Secretary Md Saidur Rahman Khan said.
The other accused are former Bangladesh Betar directors general AKM Nesar Uddin Bhuiyan and Narayan Chandra Shil; Deputy Station Engineer Mohammad Abdur Rahman; former Senior Engineer Md Zakir Hossain; then acting secretary and Project Steering Committee chairman Md Nasir Uddin Ahmed; and Project Director Prabal Kanti Das.
They have been accused under sections 409 and 109 of the Penal Code and Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947.
According to the case statement, Kazi Zakir Hasan and Malay Kumar Ganguly, on behalf of artistes of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, applied on 24 August 2014 to install a sculpture of Bangabandhu at Bangladesh Betar's Agargaon centre.
On 21 April 2016, Bangladesh Betar officials decided to seek administrative approval and prepare a design for a Bangabandhu complex inside the National Broadcasting House. On 19 May that year, then director general AKM Nesar Uddin Bhuiyan recommended that the information ministry approve the project.
The initiative was later incorporated into a project to relocate Bangladesh Betar's Shahbagh complex to Agargaon, along with construction and modernisation work, the case statement said.
At a Project Steering Committee meeting on 9 January 2018, officials proposed spending Tk7 crore on the mural. A meeting chaired by then information minister Hasanul Haq Inu on 24 January decided to install it under the project.
The committee's fourth meeting, held on 28 February that year, also considered it appropriate to include the mural in the project and decided to prepare a cost estimate.
The ACC alleged that an official estimate of Tk5.78 crore for the bronze mural was prepared on 7 May 2019 on the instructions of then Bangladesh Betar Director General Narayan Chandra Shil.
Project Director Prabal Kanti Das subsequently awarded the contract through a tender on 14 January 2020 for Tk5,78,34,000, according to the case statement.
The mural's design was approved at a meeting chaired by then information minister Mohammad Hasan Mahmud on 9 December 2020.
The contractor received Tk6,64,94,000 through nine bills up to 12 June 2024. However, the ACC said investigators found no trace of the Bangabandhu mural during a physical inspection of Bangladesh Betar's Agargaon centre.
The commission alleged that the mural was irregularly incorporated into the project through collusion, although it was not an essential component.
The accused allegedly abused their authority and engaged in criminal misconduct, causing a financial loss of Tk6,64,94,000 to the government, the ACC said.
ACC Secretary Md Saidur Rahman Khan said the revised Development Project Proposal (DPP) guidelines permit amendments when a component is essential to a project. However, he said, the bronze mural was not an essential component and its inclusion violated the guidelines, resulting in financial losses to the government.