Photo : TDM
The Board of Directors at the state-owned Maddhapara Granite Mining Company Limited (MGMCL), a company of Petrobangla under the Ministry of Power, Energy & Mineral Resources, has now come under the intense scrutiny on charge of embezzling Tk 600 crore. As the widespread allegation came to the fore, both Petrobangla and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) opened investigation.
Currently, the ACC is going on with an inquiry into the alleged case of Tk 600 crore embezzlement, while an investigation report to this effect was already handed over to Petrobangla on May 24 after the government’s oil and gas exploration entity formed a committee in this regard on April 13 this year.
When asked, incumbent Petrobangla Chairman Zanendra Nath Sarker told the Daily Messenger “I don’t have any comment about the matter. The committee has submitted the report and I have sent it to the ministry and ACC for further investigation.”
Earlier on March 14 this year, ACC Secretary Mahbub Hossain sent a letter to Energy and Mineral Resources Department Secretary to clarify the alleged embezzlement of Tk 600 crore of Maddhapara Granite Mining Company.
According to the information provided by various officials and employees related to the mining company, due to secondary blasting inside the mine, the amount of stone dust did not come below 14 percent uncontrollably. The amount of stone dust has always been more than 14 percent with additional explosive charges.
In the light of the agreement, since Germania Trest Consortium (GTC) could not ensure desired stone dust, MGMCL's financial loss reached Tk 23,35,73,125.50 due to 14 percent stone dust as shown by the company officials.
In the 204th council meeting held on June 12, 2018, it was decided to collect compensation from GTC for the production of excess dust compared to the quantity as mentioned in the contract, but the money was not collected.
According to the agreement, MGMCL officials are responsible for collecting liquidated damages from GTC. A total of Tk 28,04,03,857.37 was not recovered for the third and fourth year of the contract in respect of liquidated damages.
In the council meeting, it was also discussed that due to non-performance of production, stop and roadway development, technical modification, it was decided to collect LD from GTC.
It was alleged that the MGMCL officials in a case of irregularity profited illegally from the contractor and embezzled Tk 28,04,038,57.37 from the government while paying the bills of GTC.
At the end of the third year of the agreement, a total of 28 bills from IPC No. 72 to 100, filed by GTC from 19th February 2017 till the 204th Board meeting in June 2018, were paid.
Managing Director Mahmud Khan, assigned to the government responsibility for contract implementation, recommended paying 28 bills, ETC Mir Abdul Hannan was supposed to 15 bills and Md Asaduzzaman 13 bills, but the contractor did not make any recommendation to deduct LD money from the bill with the ill intention of benefiting the contractor illegally from GTC.
Later, an agreement was signed with GTC to extract 9.2 lakh metric tons of stone by digging 12 stopes in 6 years. First year 9 lakh, second year 14 lakh, third year 16 lakh, fourth year 17 lakh and fifth year and sixth year 18 lakh metric ton production target was set. But GTC in first year produced 6,52,695.63, second year 5,40,181.80, third year 8,845.85, fourth year 4,27,445.9 lakh, fifth year 12,75,704.77 lakh and in the sixth year 8,51,587.74 lakh metric tons thereby totalling 37,56,461.69 metric tons.
Asked about the allegation, Md Hafizur Rahman Chowdhury, Director of MGMCL Board, said, “No comments, in fact I don’t know the matter in detail.”
Although repeatedly called, Dilwoara Alo, another board of director at MGMCL, did not receive the calls, while other board members refused to talk about the issue.
The state-owned company incurred an operating loss of Tk 565 crore since it began commercial production in 2007, according to the latest report of MGMCL.
The company has been a losing concern for 11 consecutive years before recording a profit of Tk 33.52 crore in years 2018-19 and 2019-20 combined.
However, officials fear a considerable loss again due to the long suspension of production at the MGMCL.
The minefield, developed by a North-Korean company at a cost of Tk 1,275 crore, has been incurring losses as it has failed to meet the daily production target of 5,500 tonnes.
MGMCL hired GTC in 2013. After taking over charge of the minefield on 20 February 2014, GTC produced around 3.75 million tonnes of rocks in six years, far below the given target of 9.2 million tonnes during the given years.
Asked about alleged embezzlement, Energy Expert Prof Shamsul Alam told The Daily Messenger “The entire mining sector is under corruption. Our current crisis has been created due to corruption and unsustainable projects. In fact, a number of projects were taken only to facilitate the corrupt elements in the sector.”
TDM/SD
