Highlights:
- Government probe into Padma Oil's alleged dollar-handling losses remains incomplete after five months
- Three-member committee missed its five-working-day deadline for submitting findings
- Previous currency conversions potentially exposed BPC to losses of Tk2 per dollar
- Padma Oil and BPC now transfer jet fuel earnings through foreign-currency accounts
- ACC investigates CFO Kanchan Chandra Shome over financial and administrative misconduct allegations
- Allegations include Tk300 crore in fixed deposits, recruitment irregularities and financial losses
An investigation into allegations that state-owned Padma Oil PLC incurred financial losses in handling US dollar earnings from jet fuel sales remains incomplete more than five months after the government ordered it, despite a five-working-day deadline.
The Energy and Mineral Resources Division formed a three-member committee on 27 April and instructed it to submit its findings within five working days.
However, the report has yet to be submitted, a deputy secretary-level division official told TBS yesterday on condition of anonymity.
The delay has left key questions unanswered about whether the company's previous dollar-handling practice caused losses, how much money was involved, and whether any officials were responsible.
Irshad Reza, deputy secretary of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division, heads the committee. The remaining members include Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) Director (Planning) Asadul Haque, and Deputy Secretary (Planning Section-1) of the division SM Jakaria.
Asadul told TBS, "Financial investigations are time-consuming. We had to collect various information and data from banks and review them," claiming that he had completed his part of the investigation and submitted his findings to the committee chairman.
Contacted for comment on 8 October, Irshad said he was ill. A ministry source subsequently confirmed that the report had not been formally submitted.
Dollar-handling practice under scrutiny
The probe followed media reports questioning Padma Oil's practice of converting dollars earned from foreign airlines into taka and handing the proceeds to BPC.
BPC then had to purchase dollars from the market to open letters of credit (LCs) for petroleum imports, exposing the state-owned corporation to exchange-rate losses estimated up to Tk2 per dollar.
Following BPC's instructions, Padma Oil and BPC have since opened foreign-currency accounts to avoid repeated conversions between dollars and taka.
Over the past five months, proceeds from jet fuel sales have been deposited into Padma Oil's foreign-currency account and transferred to BPC's account, officials said.
This month, BPC used the funds to open an import LC for petroleum products, marking the first time it had purchased fuel using foreign currency generated directly from jet fuel sales, according to officials.
Although the new arrangement has addressed the need for repeated currency conversion, the pending investigation must establish whether the previous practice caused actual losses, who approved it, whether it complied with applicable rules and why the foreign-currency mechanism was not introduced earlier.
ACC investigates CFO allegations
Separately, the Anti-Corruption Commission has launched an investigation into allegations against Padma Oil Chief Financial Officer and acting General Manager (Finance and Accounts) Kanchan Chandra Shome.
An ACC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the commission began investigating a complaint submitted by a Padma Oil employee on 1 September.
The complaint raises allegations concerning Shome's recruitment, financial management, bank deposits, foreign travel, promotions and influence over administrative decisions.
The complainant questions whether Shome's appointment as manager (accounts) in 2009 complied with BPC recruitment rules and alleges irregularities in his reported professional experience.
The complaint also alleges that more than Tk300 crore in company funds was invested in fixed deposits with several banks, with a substantial amount remaining unrecovered. It further claims that company collections were kept for years in special notice deposit accounts offering comparatively low interest rates, causing financial losses.
Another allegation concerns a foreign trip in 2019, which the complainant claims Shome undertook on leave without prior approval from the Energy and Mineral Resources Division. The complaint also questions the handling of the dollar earnings from jet fuel sales.
The ACC investigation will determine whether the allegations have merit and whether any financial or administrative wrongdoing occurred.
Padma Oil, CFO yet to respond
TBS sent detailed questions to Padma Oil Managing Director Md Mofizur Rahman by email and WhatsApp, seeking his response to the allegations and the delay in the government probe.
When contacted by phone, he said he was in a meeting and ended the call.
TBS also sent questions to Shome's official email address and WhatsApp account and attempted to reach him by phone, but he did not answer. Neither had responded before publication.
With the government committee's report still pending and the ACC conducting a separate investigation, questions over financial oversight and accountability at the state-owned company remain unresolved.