Staff Reporter :
Chief Engineer of Department of Shipping AKM Fakhrul Islam was caught red handed while taking bribe from a person at his Motijheel office in the city on Tuesday.
A team of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) led by its Director Nasim Anwar of Dhaka Divisional Office, arrested Fakhrul Islam, also Ship Surveyor of the Department, while taking Tk 5 lakh as bribe from a person at Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority office around 2:00pm, ACC Assistant Director Jahangir Alam told journalists.
“Fakhrul was taking bribe from authorised person of Bengal Marine and Engineering Services to approve the design of a ship of the company, the ACC official said.
If the Chief Engineer of Shipping Department was refused to pay bribes, he didn’t approve the design of the ships. Based on ships’ size, Fakhrul’s demand ranged between up and down, it was alleged.
If the size of ship was small, the bribe money used to decline. But when the ship’s size was big, Fakhrul’s demand jumped to 16 lakh. And Fakhrul always used to take the bribe money at his office, it was further alleged. According to the ACC officials, Fakhrul had been charging bribe between Tk 5 lakh and Tk 16 lakh for approval of 21 ships based on size since 2012 to till 2017.
“Like in the past, on Tuesday Fakhrul was also taking bribe from the Bengal Marine and Engineering Services authorised person. But we caught him red handed. Besides, there are huge allegations of irregularities and corruption against him,” they said.
Apart from these, Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya, Deputy Director (Public Relations) of ACC, said the anti-graft watchdog would also investigate Fakhrul’s luxurious flat at Shanta Tower, Eskaton Road, in the city.
“The ACC has also obtained information about the luxurious life of Fakhrul. He had also a great tendency to live luxurious life and toward luxuriousness,” the officials said.
Golam Rabbani, Inspector (Investigation), Motijheel Police Station, said the ACC officials lodged a case in this connection with the police.
