Probe finds graft in buying 12 bulls for Milkvita

A probe committee has unearthed serious irregularities in purchasing 12 breeding bulls from Australia for the state-owned dairy farm Milkvita.
Four out of the 12 bulls died within four months causing an estimated loss of Tk 6.0 million.
The bulls arrived on February 16 in 2014 in Dhaka before being transported to Baghabari in Pabna the same day, company sources said. The total cost of the bulls was Tk 16.1 million.
Various documents of Milkvita held the then deputy general manager (procurement) Mustafizur Rahman responsible for such two-way anomalies in connivance with an active syndicate comprising members from Milkvita, the local government ministry, the livestock and cooperatives department and the supplying farm.  
The probe committee found the bulls were purchased defying the government's existing procurement rules as the bulls were not selected and approved by the technical and purchase committee.
"The documents of Milkvita show the bulls were collected from two Australian farms and no health certificates from the sourcing farms were found. The 12 imported bulls are other than the ones selected by the technical and tender committee," said the probe report.
The four-member inquiry committee was formed on June 9, 2014 after the then managing director of Milkvita Munir Chowdhury wrote a letter to the then registrar of cooperatives department Humayun Khaled to investigate the purchase. The committee formed with Khan Shahidul Haque, chief scientific officer of Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute (BLRI), as its convener, submitted its report on June 22, 2014 to the registrar.
Regarding the allegation, Mustafizur Rahman said there was internal politics in Milkvita. One person who could not participate in the pre-shipment inspection made the allegations.
Regarding new bulls in place of the ones selected earlier, Mr Mustafiz said he had brought the bulls as per the tender documents.
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