Sacked MD terms missing coal a ‘system loss’

ACC grills eight more BCMCL officials

FE Team | Published: August 29, 2018 22:40:54

FE Report
Terming disappearance of coal 'system loss', the recently removed managing director (MD) of Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Ltd (BCMCL) Habib Uddin Ahmed denied the allegation of coal stealing on Wednesday.
"From the very beginning, I have been saying that coal was not stolen and no corruption happened there (mine yard); the missing coal is actually a matter of system loss," he said.
The former BCMCL official made these comments while talking to journalists after coming out of an interrogation session conducted by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) over BCMCL coal scam.
Apart from Mr Ahmed, the commission grilled another seven officials of the state-run coal mining company at its headquarters in the city's Segunbagicha from 10am to 3:15pm, said ACC spokesperson Pranab Kumar Bhattacharjee.
Responding to a question, the former BCMCL MD said the quantity of missing coal will not be more than 1.4 per cent of total production while system loss of 2.0 to 10 per cent is internationally acceptable.
Denying the allegation of coal stealing, he said, "I believe, real truth will come out one day after investigation."
The other grilled officials of BCMCL include -- general manager (admin) Md Abul Kashem Prodhania, company secretary Mosharraf Hossain Sarker, general manager (general service) Masudur Rahman Hawlader, manager (production management) Ashok Kumar Halder, manager (maintenance and operation) Arifur Rahman, manager (design, construction and maintenance) Zahidul Islam, and deputy manager (safety management) Ekramul Haque.
A three-member ACC team led by deputy director Md Shamsul Alam has been investigating the coal disappearance case.
The commission will interrogate another nine officials of BCMCL and Petrobangla over the scam tomorrow (Thursday).
BCMCL authority on July 27 last sued 19 former and current officials of the company including its managing director over disappearance of 144,644 tonnes coal from the mine yard worth around Tk 2.30 billion.
Anisur Rahman, manager (admin) of BCMCL filed the case with Parbatipur Police Station in Dinajpur according to section 5(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 and penal code 409.
The national anti-graft authority, in the meantime, issued a travel ban on 21 people including BCMCL managing director Habib Uddin Ahmed and other former and current top officials.
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