Railway official demoted over corruption charges

Railways ministry has demoted a mid-level official of Bangladesh Railway (BR) on charges of corruption.

AMM Shahnewaz, the then chief commercial manager of BR west zone, was demoted to 5th grade from 4th, according to an order signed by Railways Secretary Humayun Kabir.

The copy of the order, issued on November 13, is now available on the ministry's website.

The ministry in December 2020 had suspended three BR officials, including Shahnewaz, for their involvement in irregularities and corruption, while purchasing materials.

The order was issued following the recommendation of a probe committee, formed on September 20, 2020, following a news report published in a Bangla daily on rampant corruption in purchases in the BR west zone during the 2018-19 fiscal year.

The two other officials were Belal Hossain Sarker, the then controller of stores of BR west zone, and Zahid Kawsar, the then assistant controller of stores.

Divisional cases have been filed against them also but those cases were not disposed of so far, a ministry official said seeking anonymity.

According to the report, some officials of the BR west zone bought some materials on inflated prices. For example, they bought keys, plastic buckets, dustbins, and curtains at the cost of Tk 5,550, Tk 1,890, Tk 18,000, and Tk 8,995, per item respectively.

Yet, those products could be bought at the time for Tk 150, Tk 300, Tk 1,200, and Tk 780 each respectively, according to the report.

Through such purchases, the official misappropriated Tk 16.40 crore in the 2018-19 fiscal year, the daily reported citing a report of Transport Audit Directorate.

The Daily Star could not reach the railways secretary or Shahnewaz over phone for comments.