Court remands chief shipping engineer in bribery case

A Dhaka court has granted Anti-Corruption Commission or ACC two days to question Chief Shipping Engineer AKM Fakhrul Islam in a bribery case.

Islam, chief engineer and ship surveyor at the Department of Shipping, was arrested on Tuesday from his office in Dhaka’s Motijheel.

A team led by ACC Director Nasim Anwar caught him in a raid.

“We arrested him while he was taking Tk 500,000 as bribes from a man. He was taking bribes for approving the design of a ship,” Nasim told bdnews24.com.

ACC Assistant Director Md Abdul Wadud started a case over the incident with the Motijheel Police Station.

Islam was produced in court on Wednesday, when investigators pleaded for a five-day remand to interrogate him.

Islam's lawyer pleaded against the remand and claimed that his client was framed.

ACC counsel Mahmud Hossain Jahangir told the court that it was a sting operation by the ACC. "The notes paid as bribe were marked."

After hearing the arguments, court granted two-day remand.

Islam was held on Tuesday while taking bribe from ANM Badrul Alam, an employee of Bengal Marine and Engineering Services.

According to the case details, the company filed for the approval of a ship's design on Apr 13, when Islam demanded Tk 500,000 to clear it.

The Bengal employee then reported to the graft watchdog, said ACC Deputy Director Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya.

“An 11-member ACC team laid a trap after Badrul reported the matter,” he said.

As per the law, the shipping department has to clear any design and modification within 45 days of submission.

The ACC said Chief Engineer Islam had been taking bribes for approving designs of ships since 2012.

So far, he has taken bribes ranging from Tk 500,000 to Tk 1.6 million for approving 22 designs, as per the case dossier.