DHAKA: Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Chairman Ghulam Rahman alleged that the World Bank (WB) requested Bangladesh to give the Padma Bridge construction work to China Railway Construction Company.
The anti-graft commission chief came up with the disclosure while talking to the journalists at his office in the city Tuesday.
He said, “The WB requested several times to give the work to the Chinese company but the Padma Bridge Review Committee found the company incompetent.”
Dr Rahman added: “The Chinese company took shelter of cheating in giving their experience of building a bridge in New York, while the review committee found it was not built by the company.”
On July 1, the ACC Chairman alleged that the statement given by World Bank (WB) after canceling Padma Bridge funding is “unfair and unconsidered”.
He said, “The WB did not cooperate when we asked for information that they got on Padma Bridge corruption.”
On June 29, the World Bank canceled a $1.2 billion credit for a Padma bridge project with immediate effect, saying it had “credible evidence” of a high-level corruption conspiracy among officials of Bangladesh government.
“In light of the inadequate response by the government of Bangladesh, the World Bank has decided to cancel its $1.2 billion credit in support of the Padma multipurpose bridge project, effective immediately,” the World Bank said in a statement.
The Washington-based development institution said it had provided evidence of corruption from two investigations into the Padma Bridge project to Bangladesh’s Prime Minister and other senior government officials in an effort to press for action.
BDST: 1930 HRS, JUL 10, 2012
Edited by: Abul Kalam Azad, Newsroom Editor Mohammed Humayun Kabir, Sr Newsroom Editor
M. Mahbub Alam, Asst Output Editor
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