ACC submits charges against 16 Biman, CAAB officials

The ACC on Wednesday submitted a charge sheet against 16 officials of Biman and CAAB in a case filed on charge of financial mismanagement while leasing two aircraft from Egypt Air.
Md Anwarul Haque, Deputy Director of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), submitted the charge sheet in the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge's court in Dhaka, ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told the FE.
Earlier on May 9 this year, the ACC approved the charge sheet.
On February 6 in 2023, the ACC filed the case against 23 officials of state-owned Biman Bangladesh Airlines, and Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) for causing alleged financial carnage to the national flag carrier.
ACC investigation found that the accused in collusion with each other caused significant loss of Tk 11.64 billion to Biman Bangladesh Airlines through corrupt leasing practice.
Two Egypt aircrafts 777-200ER were taken on a lease in 2014 for five years, but after operating only for 11 months, the two aircrafts went dysfunctional in the period between February and August 2015 due to engine problems.
Another four engines were also leased from Egypt Air to keep the Biman operational, but those also ceased to function.
Biman and the aviation officials were accused at wasting huge state resources through irregularities in all areas starting from the tender process.
The commission initiated an inquiry following recommendation from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism in April 2022.
The 16 officials are --- Ishrat Ahmed, former Flight Captain (Operation) of the state-owned Biman Bangladesh Airlines, Md Shafiqul Alam Siddique, former Deputy Chief Engineer, Shahid Uddin Mohmmad Hanif, former Principal Engineer (Services and Audit), Debesh Chowdhury, former Principal Engineer, MCC and LM, Golam Sarwar, former Inspector of Aircraft and now Airworthiness Consultant at the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB).
The list also included Md Sadequl Islam Bhuiyan, former Aircraft Mechanic and now Engineer at Biman, Sharif Ruhul Quddus, Principal System Engineer (Structure) at Biman, Md Shahjahan, former Deputy Chief Engineer of Biman, Md Zahid Hossain, Engineer of Biman, Kevin John Steele, former Managing Director and CEO of Biman.
It also included the names of Mohammad Shafiul Azam, Assistant Director (AOC Airworthiness) of CAAB, Dewan Rashed Uddin, Assistant Director (Aerospace) CAAB, Hiralal Chakrabarty, Engineer of Biman, Ashoke Kumar Sardar, Principal System Engineer of Biman, Md Lutfar Rahman, Engineer of Biman, Md Abdul Kadir, former Assistant Director and now Deputy Director of CAAB.
The charge sheet also acquitted 14 officials of Biman and CAAB of Bangladesh as the allegations brought against them were not found to be true.
The officials are--- Abdur Rahman Faruqui, General Manager (Printing & Publications) of Biman, Kamal Uddin Ahmed, DGM (GSE, OPS) of Biman, Md Nazrul Islam Shamim, Captain of Dash8-400 of Biman, Zia Ahmed, DGM (AOC, ACP) of Biman, Kazi Mosaddek Ali, former Chief Purser of Biman, Md Shahidullah Kaiser Duke, Flight Purser, Md Azad Rahman, DGM (Corporate Planning) at Biman.
The acquittal list also included Md Abdul Kadir, former Assistant Manager of Biman, Md Fazlul Haque Basunia, Assistant Manager (Planning, Engineering and Material Management), Md Ataur Rahman, Manager (ACP) of Biman, Md Sazzadul Haque Shahin, former Chief Purser, Shahnaj Begum Jharna, Flight Purser, ARM Kaiser Zaman, Chief Engineer (Production) of Biman and Gazi Mahmud Iqbal, former Chief Engineer (Engineering Services) of Biman.

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