$1.2b deal for bridge project scrapped

DHAKA: The World Bank today scrapped a $1.2 billion (Dh4.40 billion) loan deal with Bangladesh for constructing a major multipurpose bridge due to a “high-level corruption conspiracy”, a statement of the bank said.

“The World Bank has credible evidence corroborated by a variety of sources which points to a high-level corruption conspiracy among Bangladeshi government officials, (Canadian) SNC Lavalin executives and private individuals in connection with the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project,” it said in a statement.

The statement said the World Bank Bangladesh did not cooperate in investigating the graft plot though it “provided evidence from two investigations to the Prime Minister, as well as the Minister of Finance and the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission of Bangladesh (ACC) in September 2011 and April 2012”.

“In an effort to go the extra mile, we sent a high-level team to Dhaka to fully explain the Bank’s position and receive the Government’s response. The response has been unsatisfactory,” it read.

In an instant reaction, Bangladesh called the World Bank decision “unfortunate and mysterious” saying it was based on allegations “which do not necessarily mean that corruption charges have been confirmed”.

“It [decision] is unfortunate, regrettable and mysterious . . . their [WB] decision came as investigations into the allegations were under way at the Anti-Corruption Commission,” communication minister Obaidul Quader said.

The World Bank earlier promised to provide $1.2 billion of the 2.93 billion project but kept the disbursement process suspended, raising the graft allegation as the construction was initially planned to start by this year and be completed by the end of 2014 to connect southern Bangladesh with the capital.

“We only finance a project when we have adequate assurances that we can do so in a clean and transparent way . . . We have both an ethical obligation and a fiduciary responsibility to our shareholders and [bank] donor countries,” the world bank statement said.

“It would be irresponsible of the Bank not to press for action on these threats to good governance and development.”

Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) earlier said it found allegations of corruption in “contractor appointment” for the mega project “baseless” while it was still probing the second allegation about anomalies in appointing the project consultant.

The commission in February also absolved the then communication minister Abul Hussain of graft allegations over the contractor appointment saying “the ACC does not think any corruption was committed in pre-qualification bidding process” of the main construction work of the Padma Bridge project.

Under a cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina, however, changed Hussain’s portfolio and made him the Minister for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) recently.

Hasina earlier warned her government would not accept World Bank funds for the mega project unless it could prove the allegation it raised while the global lending agency said it awaited a Canadian police investigation report on graft allegations.

Bangladesh earlier short-listed five firms for appointment as consultants including Canadian SNC-Lavalin Group Inc but the World Bank suspected corruption in the process and instead of approving the list referred the matter to the Canadian authorities to investigate how the Canadian company had got itself shortlisted.