Staff Reporter :
A vested group has tried to import 0.15 million metric ton wheat from Ukraine providing fake document.
The issue came to the attention of Ukrainian government recently and it officially informed the matter to its Bangladesh counterpart asking necessary steps to prevent the forgery. Ukraine authorities have already sent letters to Director General of Food and Food Secretary informing the matter. Knowledgeable sources said, a dishonest party may have tried to use the import cover to secure bank guarantee and later transferred the money abroad showing payment against import bills.
Documents showed that Bangladesh received a letter on 19th February 2015 from the Ukraine Food Ministry in which it mentioned that ‘Granum Invest`, the government nominated agent will export 0.15 million metric ton wheat to Bangladesh under government to government (G2G) contract out of a deal for 0.25 million metric ton wheat.
On March 6, Bangladesh Embassy in Russia sent a letter mentioning that Ukraine government is ready to export wheat through `Granum Invest`.
But the Ukraine Food Minister O.M Pavlenko in a letter to Bangladesh Food Secretary and Director General of Food mentioned that the previous letters from Ukraine was `fake and forged`.
“We are officially informing you that the above mentioned letters have never been sent form our Agrarian Policy and the Food Ministry. The Bangladesh Food Ministry must take legal action on the fake letter and attempt of wheat import. Please take note of this information in order to protect the interest of fictitious future bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Ukraine,” it said.
Surprisingly, the Cabinet Committee on government purchase approved the purchase proposal on March 11 in favour of Granum Invest`s local agent `Ramin Enterprise` without paying heed to Ukrainian government.
After the approval, Ukraine Food Corporation`s local agent submitted a prayer to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) requesting it to take immediate steps initiative to stop the forgery. Following this, the PMO has ordered Ministry of Food to look into the matter considering the bilateral interest of both the countries.
On March 12, the Ministry of Food issued a letter to Bangladesh ambassador in Russia Dr SM Saiful Haque for probing the forgery and submitting report as early as possible. “We are yet to receive any answer regarding the matter from our ambassador in Russia,” a senior Food Ministry official told The New Nation on Wednesday, on condition of anonymity.
He added: Our ministry gave several reminders to him, but no response was come from the ambassador.
Bangladesh Embassy in Russia is in charge of Ukraine consul office.
Chairman of Parliamentary Committee of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine on March 23 in a letter urged the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to take up the issue for the continuation of smooth bilateral relation between the two countries.
