Gulam Rabbani :
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC)’s delay in completing the investigation reports in the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) corruption cases has given a scope to the most of the accused to secure bail though the offenses described in the cases were of serious nature and filed under non-bailable sections of the law.
A special court in Pabna passed a series of bail orders last month in the cases though the High Court earlier refused to grant bail to some of the accused.
The special court passed 28 orders in June related to the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant corruption cases by which 15-20 accused got bail. Md Asaduzzaman, Senior Special Judge of Pabna, said in the bail orders that the investigation officers failed to complete the investigations of the cases within the time stipulated or within the extended time as described in the Section 20(ka) of the Durnity Daman Commission Ain, 2004.
Besides, the investigation officers even could not comply with the High Court’s order that directed to conclude the investigation as early as possible preferably within six months, the judge also mentioned in his orders.
It is also uncertain when the investigation will be completed as Covid-19 pandemic is continuing across the world, also read the bail orders.
Khurshid Alam Khan, a senior counsel of the Anti-Corruption Commission, said, “A total of four cases were filed over the scam and about 20-25 people were made accused in these cases. Of them 15-20 accused persons were granted bail by the special court.”
The lawyer said, “We will file revision petition against the bail orders passed by the special court. Because the ground on which the special judge granted them bail is fragile. It is not mandatory to complete the investigation within the stipulated time as described in the law, but it is directory. So the judge granted them bail on a wrong conception. We will seek cancellation of the bail orders by revision petitions.”
The ACC has already prepared the revision petitions against the bail orders of seven accused of the cases, Md Zahidul Kabir, Md Mostafa Kamal, Shafiqul Islam, Md Masudul Alam, Aminul Islam, Ahmed Sazzad Khan and Md Tareq.
The cases filed by the ACC are under investigation level. Some of the accused came to the High Court for bail, but the HC rejected all of their prayers except one. The High Court on October 19 in 2020 in that exceptional order asked the ACC to complete the investigation reports within six months.
Those six months completed a long time ago. But it was not possible to complete the investigations due to coronavirus pandemic situation, said the lawyer adding that the probe reports are almost ready which might be submitted within a short time.
The ACC filed the cases with its Pabna district office against 20/25 persons on December 12 in 2019 on charges of irregularities involving Tk 260 million in supplying furniture and household items to the officials of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.
According to several published reports, the prices of the various items used to furnish the project’s 966 flats for Russian engineers and others were abnormally higher than market prices.
The reports claimed that each pillow was bought for Tk 5,957, and the cost of carrying it to a flat was Tk 760. An electric stove cost Tk 7,747 and the cost of carrying it from the ground floor to the top floor was Tk 6,650. The price of an electric iron was Tk 4,154 and the carrying cost was Tk 2,945.
