A room in Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant's residential village

In 2019, newspapers and netizens of Bangladesh alleged that an excess of 26 crore (equivalent to 31 crore or US$2.9 million in 2022) was spent on the construction of residential areas for Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, which is Bangladesh's first nuclear power plant. The allegations and further events became popularly known as the Rooppur pillow scandal in the country. In December 2019, the Anti Corruption Commission arrested 13 people for corruption and the matter remains sub judice.[1][2]

Background

Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (ongoing construction)

In 2016, ground preparation work of the nuclear power plant at Rooppur commenced. The Russian government would fund the 90 percent of the $12.65 billion contract through loan. The two units generating 2.4 GWe are planned to be operational in 2023 and 2024. Russian corporation Rosatom will operate the units for the first year before Bangladeshi operators take over. Russia will supply the nuclear fuel and retrieve spent nuclear fuel.[3]

Scandal

The documents of the housing project, called as Green City, were published and in May 2019, excessive prices listed in the document prompted allegations of corruption. In 2019, the Bangladesh Citizen Council's convener priced an average pillow as costing from 250 (equivalent to 300 or US$2.80 in 2022) to 300 (equivalent to 360 or US$3.40 in 2022).[4] But, the documented price of each pillow was 5957 (US$56), approximately 20 times the market value. An exorbitant amount of 931 (US$8.70) was documented as the cost of transportation per pillows to the housing complex constructed under the scheme. Cots were priced at 43357 (US$400) and dining table sets were documented to be of 114674 (US$1,100).[2] According to the ministry's expenditure policy, the central authority must approve purchases above 30 crore (US$2.8 million). To circumvent this, the purchase of ৳30 crore was split into five parts. Three contracting companies were hired to purchase these products. Among these, the goods supplied by Sajin Enterprise were of low quality. The media outlets like Prothom Alo and Pabna Samachar reported that Golam Faruk Khandakar Prince, MP of the area, was involved with this organization. Another contractor, Majid Sons, was reported to have been negligent in the supply of construction products.[1][5]

Reaction

Authorities

The Secretary of the Ministry of Science and Technology assured action against the accused of the incident. The then Secretary of the Housing and Public Works Ministry claimed to have formed a committee to determine the price of the products. However, no comment about its progress was made. Shawkat Akbar, project director of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, said the documented expenditure was not unreasonable. He also said that he would be held accountable to the Planning Commission.[2] According to the newspaper Jugantor, the people of authority think that Mosharraf Hossain should take responsibility for the incident as he was the minister of Public Works during the scandal.[6]

People

Iftekharuzzaman, the executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh, expressed concern over the corruption. The people of Bangladesh trolled and shared memes about the scandal. Economist Khondaker Ibrahim Khaled, former Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank, said that corruption in Bangladesh will increase if the government does not reprimand the scandal's offenders.[2] On 20 May 2019, two organizations in Dhaka began protests against the corruption and held pillows in their march. Protesters described this corruption as the "greatest loot in history".[4]

Aftermath

After the scandal, the government formed a three-member committee to investigate.[2] They released a report on 23 July 2019, which suggested a list of 33 people involved with the scam. On 7 November, the Anti Corruption Commission summoned them to their office for further questioning. Three days later, the accused executive engineer Masudul Alam was questioned.[7] On 12 December, the Anti Corruption Commission arrested 13 people for corruption: one executive engineer, three sub-divisional engineers, four deputy engineers, three assistant engineers and two contractors. The project was sued for corruption and money embezzlement. According to the ministry, the accused seized around 36 crore (US$3.4 million) from the project.[1]

After the arrest, deputy engineer Shafiqul Islam applied for bail. The High Court denied the bail on 5 July 2020.[8] On 25 October 2021, Samakal reported the accused contractor had returned the money from the purchase.[9] Shahadat Hossain of Sajin Construction was granted bail on 28 August 2020.[10] In September, the Anti Corruption Commission appealed this, seeking the bail's cancellation.[11] The High Court then ruled in favour of the Commission and the bail was canceled[12] and further appealed to ban international travels for Hossain.[13] In the same month, the High Court gave the government six months to resolve three cases in the scam.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "'বালিশ-কাণ্ডে' রূপপুর প্রকল্পের নির্বাহী প্রকৌশলীসহ ১৩ জন গ্রেপ্তার" [13 arrests including 'Rooppur project executive engineer]. Prothom Alo (in Bengali). 18 December 2019. Archived from the original on 23 April 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "২ কোটি টাকার বালিশ: রূপপুর পারমাণবিক বিদ্যুৎ কেন্দ্রের হাউজিং প্রকল্পে দুর্নীতি" [Tk 2 crore Pillow: Corruption in Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant Housing Project]. Inqilab (in Bengali). 19 May 2019. Archived from the original on 25 May 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  3. "Contract signed for preparatory work at Bangladesh's NPP". Nuclear Engineering International. 1 April 2016. Archived from the original on 8 November 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  4. 1 2 "রূপপুর প্রকল্পে 'দুর্নীতির' প্রতিবাদে ঢাকায় 'বালিশ বিক্ষোভ'" ['Pillow protest' in Dhaka in protest of 'corruption' in the Rupur project]. BBC (in Bengali). 20 May 2019. Archived from the original on 25 January 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  5. "রূপপুর পারমানবিক বিদ্যুৎকেন্দ্র: কেনাকাটায় অভিনব দূর্নীতির তদন্ত" [Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant: Novel corruption probe in procurement]. Pabna Samachar (in Bengali).
  6. "রূপপুর প্রকল্পে বালিশ-কাণ্ডে মাসুদসহ ১৩ জন কারাগারে" [In the Rooppur project, 5 in jail including pillow-band Masud]. Jugantor (in Bengali). 13 December 2019. Archived from the original on 19 September 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  7. "বালিশকাণ্ড : প্রকৌশলী মাসুদুলকে দুদকে জিজ্ঞাসাবাদ" [Pillow Scandal: Engineer Masudul interrogated by ACC]. Somoynews.tv (in Bengali). Somoy TV. 6 November 2019. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  8. "রূপপুরে আবাসন প্রকল্পে দুর্নীতি: এক আসামির জামিন নাকচ" [Corruption in Rooppur Housing Project: One accused bail rejected]. Bdnews24.com (in Bengali). 5 July 2020. Archived from the original on 7 August 2020. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  9. "বালিশকাণ্ডের হোতারা ফেরত দিলেন টাকা" [The pillow scandal: Contractor has returned the money back]. Samakal (in Bengali). 25 October 2020. Archived from the original on 19 September 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  10. "জামিনে মুক্ত বালিশ কাণ্ডের সেই ঠিকাদার" [The contractor is free to bail on the Pillow scandal]. Prothom Alo (in Bengali). 30 August 2020. Archived from the original on 19 September 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  11. "বালিশ কাণ্ড : ঠিকাদার শাহাদাতের জামিন বাতিল চায় দুদক" [Pillow scandal: The ACC wants to cancel the bail of the contractor Sahadat]. Kaler Kantho (in Bengali). 9 September 2020. Archived from the original on 21 April 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  12. "রূপপুর 'বালিশকাণ্ড': ঠিকাদারের জামিন বাতিল প্রশ্নে হাইকোর্টের রুল" [Ruppur 'Pillow Scandal': High Court Rule on the question of cancellation of the contractor]. Samakal (in Bengali). 13 September 2020. Archived from the original on 19 September 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  13. "রূপপুর বালিশকাণ্ডের সেই ঠিকাদারের দেশত্যাগে নিষেধাজ্ঞা" [The contractor of the pillow scandal is banned from leaving the country]. Jugantor (in Bengali). 12 October 2020. Archived from the original on 24 November 2020. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  14. "রূপপুর বালিশ-কাণ্ডের তিন মামলার তদন্ত ৬ মাসে সম্পন্নের নির্দেশ" [Rooppur pillow-bundle cases are investigated in 6 months]. Tbsnews.net (in Bengali). 19 October 2020. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
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