Rooppur power plant scam: HC denies bail to contractor in 2 cases

The High Court today refused to grant bail to contractor Shahadat Hossain in two separate cases filed over the much-discussed corruption in purchasing furniture and household items for officials of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in Pabna. 

The High Court bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim passed the order after holding a virtual hearing of two separate petitions seeking bail filed by Shahadat Hossain, managing director of Swadheen Construction Ltd that supplied the materials.

The bench did not grant him bail as another HC bench had earlier also refused bail in these two cases, Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Dr Md Bashir Ullah told The Daily Star.         

He said the HC bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain told Shahadat's lawyers that they may move the same bail petitions before a regular high court bench when the court reopens after the ongoing closure.                

Barrister Shafique Ahmed and Advocate Abdul Matin appeared for Shahadat while Attorney General Mahbubey Alam and Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Lawyer AK Fazlul Haque vehemently opposed the bail petitions.

The ACC filed the two cases with its Pabna district office against Shahadat and several others on December 12 last year on charges of irregularities involving Tk 16 crore in supplying furniture and household items to the officials of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, the DAG said. Shahadat was also arrested on that day, he informed.                  

According to several reports, the prices of the various items used to furnish the project's 966 flats for the Russian engineers and others were abnormally higher than market prices.

The reports claimed that each pillow was bought for Tk 5,957, and the cost of carrying it to a flat was Tk 760. An electric stove cost Tk 7,747 and the cost of carrying it from the ground floor to the top floor was Tk 6,650. The price of an electric iron was Tk 4,154 and the carrying cost was Tk 2,945, the report showed.