The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against Touhidul Anwar Chowdhury, former director general of Bangladesh Railway, and six others over causing financial loss of Tk 598.84 crore to the state through Disel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) train project.
ACC’s Director General Akhter Hossain disclosed the matter at a briefing on Wednesday.
Other accused are DEMU train project director and former chief mechanical engineer (Development) Iftekhar Hossain, former chief mechanical engineer (East) Akhtaruzzaman Haider, Planning Division’s former deputy secretary Benjamin Hembrom, Railway Ministry’s former deputy chief Anjan Kumar Biswas, former deputy secretary Ashrafuzzaman and IMED’s former deputy director Mumitur Rahman.
According to the case document, although it was essential to verify the feasibility of the project for procuring DEMU trains equipped with advanced technology unprecedented in Bangladesh, no proper feasibility study (both technical and financial) was conducted considering the country’s railway infrastructure, environment, technology, and socio-economic context.
The accused Akhtaruzzaman Haidar, Benjamin Hemkrom, Anjan Kumar Biswas, Ashrafulzzaman and Mumitur Rahman traveled to China to discuss the finalisation of detailed designs, repairs, and commissioning for assessing the effectiveness and suitability of DEMU trains in the context of Bangladesh’s infrastructure.
The case document said that even after China visit, they failed to provide accurate information regarding the unsuitability and ineffectiveness of DEMU trains considering Bangladesh’s climate, railway infrastructure, and technical conditions.
ACC said that deficiencies including insufficient number of wide windows in DEMU coaches, frequent locomotive breakdowns, and the absence of a sewage system despite specifications mentioning toilet glass, caused health risks and suffering for passengers as well as financial losses for the state.
“Instead, by providing false information, they engaged in fraud, deception, and criminal breach of trust, leading to the adoption of a loss-making project harmful to the socio-economic context,” said the case document.
