Kabir Humayun: The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has quizzed eight officials of Petrobangla over the disappearance of coal from the Barapukuria plant.
ACC spokesperson Pranab Kumar Bhattachariya said Shamsul Alam, Deputy Director and Investigation Officer of ACC, interrogated them at the anti-graft watchdog’s headquarters yesterday, reports bdnews24.com.
The eight officials include Petrobangla’s General Manager (Mine Operation) Abu Taher Md Nuruzzaman Chowdhury, Deputy General Manager AKM Khaledul Islam, Deputy Manager (Maintenance and Operation) Morsheduzzaman, Deputy Manager (Production Management) Habibur Rahman, Deputy Manager (Mine Development) Zahidur Rahman, Deputy Manager (Ventilation Management) Satyendra Nath Varman, Manager (Security) Syed Imam Hasan and Deputy General Manager (Mine Planning Operation) Jobair Ali.
A case was filed on July 24 with Dinajpur’s Parbatipur Model Police Station accusing 19 former and incumbent officials of the coalmine.
Later, the case was transferred to the ACC for the investigation.
On August 13, the ACC served notice on 32 Petrobangla officials, summoning them to appear on August 16, 28, 29 and 30 for interrogation over the “disappearance of coal” from Barapukuria coalmine.
In the first round on August 16, the ACC interrogated seven officials of Petrobangla. They were Petrobangla’s Deputy General Manager (Maintenance and Contact Management) Md Nazmul Haque, Manager (Coal Handling Management) Md Shoaibur Rahman, Manager (Production Management) Md Sayeed Masud, Deputy Manager (Maintenance and Operation) Md Mahbub Hossain, Assistant Manager (Production Management) Md Moniruzzaman and Assistant Manager (Coal Handling Management) Md Mahbub Rashid and Manager (Store) Md Didarul Kabir.
About 144,000 tonnes of coal, worth over Tk 2 billion, reportedly went missing from the mine yard.
On July 22, the disappearance of the coal forced the authorities to shut a 525MW coal-fired thermal power plant next to the mine to halt operations due to a shortage of fuel.