Project Cost Jumps From 1.65 Billion to 3.26 Billion Taka Amid Push to Buy 2 Billion Taka Worth of Unnecessary Equipment

❐ BD Digest Desk

Despite the Anti-Corruption Commission’s (ACC) clear objections, public inquiries, and one after another questions regarding the controversial procurement process regarding the much-discussed 5G project of Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Limited (BTCL), the implementation of the project has not stopped. This time, the Department of Posts and Telecommunications of the current government has taken direct initiatives to move the project forward.

The ministry has recently issued a new letter to continue the remaining activities of the project, which was stalled due to the ACC’s objections, highlighting various aspects of the project and taking a stand in favor of continuing the activities.

It is known that the Chinese company Huawei is behind the various activities of implementing this project accused of irregularities. At the same time, multiple sources have also said that it is involved in illegal transactions with a high-ranking institution of the BNP government.

Earlier, Faiz Ahmed Tayyab, the then special assistant to the interim government’s chief advisor Dr. Muhammad Yunus, sent a quasi-official letter (DO letter) on his pad, seeking ‘personal attention and cooperation’ from the ACC chairman regarding the project.

The incident was reported in the country’s leading dailies, where the issue of BUET’s feasibility study, the ACC investigation, and allegations of purchasing unnecessary equipment for the project were raised.

Investigations revealed that although it was possible to purchase the necessary equipment for Tk 165 crore, preparations are underway to purchase unnecessary equipment for the purpose of sharing it out at a cost of around Tk 200 crore.

According to those concerned, these extra devices will remain unused without any use.

According to a recent document, this time, instead of a private initiative, the Department of Posts and Telecommunications has officially taken a stand in favor of taking the project forward. The document states that the ministry explained various aspects of the project and stated the need to carry out the remaining activities.

The letter explains the rationale for continuing the project by highlighting various issues including BTCL’s project implementation, equipment import, LC and technical evaluation.

The letter was sent on May 5 from the Planning-3 Branch of the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, and signed by the ministry’s Senior Assistant Secretary Shuvo Debnath. When asked about this, he confirmed that the letter was sent on the instructions of higher authorities.

ACC sources said that no action or explanation has been taken regarding this letter as the commission has not been formed yet. On April 13 last year, the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology sent a letter to ACC highlighting the importance of the project and seeking cooperation.

In response, a letter signed by the then ACC Secretary Khorsheda Yasmin on June 18 of the same year clearly stated, “If the remaining activities of the procurement process of this project are carried out or continued, it appears that it will be a violation of the law and it is conceivable that the related expenditure will not be legal.”

Even then, former chief advisor Dr. Muhammad Yunus’ special assistant Faiz Ahmed Tayyab sent a DO letter to the ACC chairman and tried to continue the project, but the ACC did not respond.

Despite the ACC’s written objection, the relevant circles have started efforts to restart the project after the change of power.

In continuation of this, a new letter has been sent from the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, which states, “It is necessary to reconsider the decision given by the ACC in order to move forward the ongoing work of the project in question. In this situation, it is requested by order to reconsider the decision given by the ACC in the aforementioned memorandum No. 1 in order to move forward the ongoing work of the project titled ‘Development of BTCL’s Optical Fiber Transmission Network for 5G Adaptation’.”

The ministry’s letter refers to a letter sent by the ACC on June 18 last year, in which the ACC stated that preliminary evidence of corruption and irregularities had been found in the project, which made it illegal to continue the project.

A senior official involved in the ACC investigation said, “We are not giving importance to the ministry’s letter. Because the ACC’s position was already communicated. The ACC cannot give permission to continue the project even after receiving evidence of corruption.”

“In addition, it is unprecedented to request the same project to continue after being told ‘no’ in a letter once. This is tantamount to interference in a matter under investigation by the ACC, an abuse of power.”

He further said that the investigation committee has already completed its work and submitted its report to the commission and further legal steps will be taken, including filing a case, once the new commission is formed. He said that 41 people, including Faiz Tayyab, have been named as accused in this case.

The ACC investigation team also said it would recommend to the Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) to cancel BTCL’s contract with Huawei and blacklist Huawei.

According to the information obtained during the investigation, there has been serious debate about the cost, necessity and technical capabilities of the project since its inception. Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) had estimated BTCL’s potential bandwidth requirement at 26.2 terabytes by 2030 and recommended a 100G technology-based infrastructure accordingly.

But later, an initiative was taken to purchase equipment with a capacity of 126 terabytes, resulting in the project cost increasing from Tk 165 crore to Tk 326 crore. Based on this complaint, the ACC launched a public inquiry, which found primary evidence of violation of confidentiality conditions, non-compliance with PPR, ignoring BUET’s recommendations, and purchasing equipment with a capacity many times higher than required.

The ministry’s new letter calls for the formation of a committee consisting of BUET teachers and relevant experts to verify the quality of the equipment, and claims that the equipment is acceptable based on the report of that committee.

However, according to those concerned, this argument does not answer the main debate, because the focus of the ACC’s investigation is not just the quality of the equipment – but rather why equipment with almost five times the capacity of the required capacity was purchased, why BUET’s study was ignored, and why the project cost was almost doubled – these questions have not yet been answered satisfactorily.

It is believed that the investigation is underway to determine whether the shipment of critical equipment without factory testing was done with the intention of benefiting any party, despite the lack of legal validity.

According to several experts in the technology sector, just because the equipment is of good quality does not justify its purchase—the first question in a state project should be whether it was necessary at all.

Purchasing equipment with excess capacity and leaving it unused for years can also be considered a waste of government money.

It is known that similar questions have arisen in the ACC investigation – the investigation report states that the initial truth of the allegations of ignoring BUET’s recommendations, initiatives to purchase excess capacity equipment, violation of PPR, and waste of government money has been found.

For this reason, the commission informed the concerned ministry in writing that proceeding with the remaining procurement work of the project before the investigation is completed will violate the law and the related expenditure will not be legal.

Despite this, efforts are continuing to keep the project running. Meanwhile, the issue of releasing money against the LC has come to the fore after the equipment arrived in the country, and allegations have also been received of various pressures being placed on the bank manager concerned to release the money.

In this context, Supreme Court lawyer Nadeem Mahmud said, “Pressuring the ACC to proceed with the project through a letter or DO even after the Anti-Corruption Commission has informed it in writing that it has received preliminary evidence of corruption and irregularities is clearly a violation of the law. This is a naked interference with the independence of the ACC.”

“I think those who are repeatedly issuing letters are the main beneficiaries of the corrupt money from this project. The Anti-Corruption Commission should start investigating the assets of those officials,” he said.

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Executive Director Dr. Iftekharuzzaman said, “Huawei is one of the world’s leading companies in the tech sector, but on the other hand, it is also widely controversial for allegations of unethical and corrupt business practices behind its aggressive success. Huawei and its subsidiaries and employees have been punished for corruption in several countries, including the European Union, the United States, and Singapore.”

He said, the corruption risks in Bangladesh’s business relationship with Huawei are not unknown to the authorities; especially since the ACC investigation is said to have actionable evidence. The government will be expected to show courage in this regard, above the questionable position of the interim government, for the sake of an impartial investigation of corruption allegations and to facilitate the investigation process in a lawful manner. Otherwise, it is unacceptable to influence or even block the investigation process of corruption allegations against this company, apparently fueled by Huawei.

He further added, “Such a stance of the relevant circles is contradictory to the anti-corruption pledge in the government’s election manifesto. It would not be unreasonable to question whether there is a deeper conspiracy, including illegal transactions, behind this.”