State-run Gas Company
8 officials charged with Tk 25cr graft
The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday pressed charges against eight officials of Rupantorito Prakritik Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL), a concern of state-run Petrobangla Ltd, for misappropriating Tk 25 crore petroleum products in five years between 2002 and 2007.
They manipulated logbook and tampered with meters to show low production, said the charge sheet of the case filed with Golapganj Police Station in 2009 for misappropriating petroleum goods.
“The officials hid the actual production and sold the undisclosed petrol and liquefied petroleum gas,” said ACC Assistant Director Abdul Mazed, who submitted the charge sheet to Sylhet Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court after a two-year investigation.
Mazed, also investigation officer of the case, filed the lawsuit in March 2009 after their involvement in corruption was found in primary investigation. A written complaint from RPGCL Deputy Manager AKM Shamim in July 2007 led to the enquiry.
Misappropriation of petroleum goods went unabated over the years, as company high-ups did not act despite specific allegations of corruption in RPGCL, the country’s lone producer of liquefied petroleum gas, said the charge sheet.
The officials charged with misappropriation include RPGCL Managing Director Engineer Shafiul Azam, its General Manager (Planning and Development) Abdul Khaleque Khan and Deputy Manager Khalilur Rahman.
The others are former deputy manager Jasim Uddin Chowdhury, who is now in the UK, Deputy Manager (Planning and Development) Zahidul Islam, CNG Workshop Manager Engineer Shuvo Barua, Deputy Manager (Operation) Sheikh Kamal Uddin and Engineer Abdul Wadud, whose five-year job contract with the company expired a year ago.
A committee with experts from the Energy Regulatory Commission and Buet examined technical aspects of the probe.
-With The Daily Star input
