A legal notice has been served on the government and Biman Bangladesh Airlines, demanding transparency, open competition, and justification of public expenditure in the procurement of 14 aircraft from the US plane maker Boeing.
Supreme Court lawyer Mostofa Mohammad Golam Sarwar sent the notice in the public interest via registered post on Monday.
The respondents to the notice are cabinet secretary, civil aviation and tourism secretary, finance secretary, and chairman, managing director, and chief executive officer of Biman Bangladesh Airlines.
The legal notice follows media reports published on 30 April regarding an agreement to purchase 14 Boeing aircraft. The proposed addition to the national carrier’s fleet consists of eight Boeing 787-10, two 787-9, and four 737 MAX planes.
According to international reports cited in the notice, the collective list price of these aircraft is approximately $3.7 billion. Lawyer Sarwar has raised serious questions regarding both the economic and legal justifications for this massive expenditure.
Emphasising the necessity of following the Public Procurement Act and Rules for government purchases, the notice points out that the $3.7 billion outlay represents the largest expenditure in Biman’s history.
Sarwar questioned whether there would be a sufficient passenger turnout to operate these planes after such an immense expenditure, particularly when the country is navigating pressing challenges such as gas, electricity, and internet crises, alongside unemployment and inflation.
Demands for open competition and transparency
The lawyer also raised concerns over the lack of open competition in the procurement process, asserting that Airbus should have been given an equal opportunity to compete alongside Boeing.
In this regard, the notice referenced several recent news reports and European Union Ambassador Michael Miller’s call to consider Airbus’s proposal.
Moreover, the notice highlighted that neither the government nor Biman Bangladesh Airlines has published any details regarding the agreement or the feasibility study.
Arguing that as a citizen and taxpayer he has a right to know how public money is spent, Sarwar demanded disclosure of the relevant Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and feasibility study documents.
The notice demands that before any aircraft are purchased, an objective evaluation must be carried out regarding Biman’s actual fleet requirements, route-specific passenger demand, seat utilisation rates or load factors, empty seat statistics, and international passenger transport market situation.
It also urged the government to evaluate “opportunity cost” of the proposed procurement, taking into consideration critical factors such as fuel supply, industrial production, employment, inflation, defaulted loans, and necessity of public spending in health and social sectors.
Asserting that decisions involving public resources cannot be shielded from judicial review simply by categorising them as commercial or policy decisions, the notice cited the landmark legal precedent of the Dr Mohiuddin Farooque v Bangladesh case.
It also invoked the constitutional rights to the protection of law and the right to information.
The notice demands the preservation and publication of all files, meeting minutes, MoUs, and evaluation reports concerning the Boeing aircraft procurement.
It warned that legal action will be initiated if a satisfactory response and the relevant documents are not disclosed within seven days, or if any new contract is signed without independent verification.
