ACC grills CAAB officials over Biman’s loss of Tk 1,100cr

The Anti-Corruption Commission on Tuesday interrogated seven officials of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh and a subsidiary of Biman Bangladesh Airlines as part of their enquiry into allegations of irregularities in taking the lease of two Boeing 777 aircraft from Egypt Air in 2014 that caused the national flag carrier a loss of Tk 1,100 crore.

The commission interrogated the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) Principal Assistant Director Saiful Haque Saha, Airworthiness Consultant Golam Sarwar, and Biman Flight Catering Centre managers Sadequl Islam Bhuiyan and Kamal Uddin Ahmed.

Earlier on Monday, the commission interrogated CAAB Chief Engineer (maintenance) SM Siddique, Principal Engineer (I and QA) SM Hanif and Principal Engineer (MCC) Devesh Choudhury.

A team of the anti-graft body led by its Deputy Director Anwarul Haque interrogated the seven officials at the commission’s headquarters in the capital’s Segunbagicha.

The commission began probing the incident after the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism in April recommended the investigation against Biman after it found that alleged irregularities in taking the leasing of the two aircraft caused the national flag carrier Tk 1,100 crore in losses.

According to the allegation, Biman took the lease of the two aircraft for five years with tough conditions that served against its interests as the extended range planes had to remain grounded for two years from 2017 for engine defects.

After operating a flight in February 2015, the engines of one of the aircraft got damaged. To keep it running, Biman rented another engine from Egypt Air.

Biman could finally get rid of the two aircraft in 2019 but at a huge cost, a probe body formed by the civil aviation ministry found.

On April 24, the parliamentary recommended the investigation, as the ministry did not follow up on the investigation report.

ACC spokesperson M Arif Sadiq said, “The ACC interrogated seven officials over the loss of the national flag carrier Tk 1,100 crores for taking the lease of two Boeing 777 airliners from Egypt Air.”

“If found involvement, more officials concerned will be interrogated at the ACC in connection with the allegation,” he added.