ACC grills three Biman officials on graft charges

The Anti-Corruption Commission or ACC has interrogated Biman Bangladesh Airlines’ three officials for irregularities in recruiting cadet pilots.

The three officials are Biman’s Acting Managing Director Captain Farhat Hassan Jamil, Chief Financial Officer Vineet Sood and Director (Planning) Md Mahbub Jahan Khan.

ACC Assistant Director M Saiful Islam started interrogating them at 9:30am on Monday, according to Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya, the spokesman for the anti-graft agency.

For the same allegations, Chief of Training Fazal Mahmud and Director (Marketing and Sales) Md Ashraful Alam are also expected to face questioning later in the day.

On July 24, the ACC summoned 10 officials, including former Biman’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer AM Mosaddique Ahmed.

On July 28, Biman Director (Admin) Partha Kumar Pandit, Director (Engineering and Material Management) Sazzadur Rahim, Director (Procurement and Logistic Support), Mohammad Mominul Islam and General Manager (Admin) Bushra Islam were interrogated.

Biman officials are accused of taking bribes and abusing power in appointing cadet pilots, according to ACC officials.

Earlier, the ACC issued a travel ban on Mosaddique three days after the flag carrier fired him.

The Biman board of directors removed him after getting proofs of irregularities in the appointment of pilots along with a barrage of allegations of lack of transparency, one of the directors had earlier said.