Rest of the housing companies are carrying out their businesses illegally through bribing Rajuk officials and employees with hefty sums of money, said an official of the taskforce at a news briefing at Paltan Army Camp last evening.

The taskforce official, identifying himself only as a Major, also said even the two or three approved housing companies also do not have approvals from proper authorities for all of their projects.

The major also claimed that their primary investigation, which started 25 days ago, found that all Rajuk officials and employees, from a sweeper to a director, have Rajuk plots in the capital or on its outskirts either in their own names or in their relatives' names.

The Rajuk staff managed to get their plots in lucrative areas by manipulating documents.According to the taskforce major, Rajuk's Collective Bargaining Agent (CBA) leaders indulged themselves in unbridled corruption in the government organisation and earned a huge amount of money. They used to earn the illegal money by helping people win business bids through tender manipulations and by taking bribe for arranging Rajuk employment for people using their political influences.

"We have examined the qualifications of a number of officials like building inspectors or surveyors, but found that they do not have the qualifications needed for getting the jobs," the major said.

According to the major, the CBA leaders used to appoint their close relatives or other people, who bribed them heavily, first on the master roll and used to later regularise those jobs using political influences.

The taskforce investigation also reveals that corrupt officials of Rajuk's accounts section used to draw several crores of taka through tampering with the cheques of plot seekers. They used to erase the payers' signatures and withdraw money using fake signatures.

The major said members of an organised gang, who are now on the run, used to forge seals of Rajuk officials behind Rajuk Bhaban with patronisation from the CBA leaders.

The taskforce investigation also found that Rajuk Karmachari Kalyan Trust [Welfare Trust for Rajuk Employees], having 800 members, managed to grab 33 kathas of land in posh Nikunja area of the capital. The welfare trust later employed a developer who built the Rajuk Centre there. Later, the trust members sold out their portions -- each of them earning over Tk 1 lakh on an average.

Besides, the Rajuk officials and employees grabbed many abandoned plots either in their own names or their close relatives' names. They also arranged allotments of plots for people of their choices in exchange for large sums of bribe.

The taskforce major also said around 300 people dropped letters of complaints in Rajuk's complaint box complaining that they did not get their deposits refunded although their applications for plots had been cancelled much earlier. He said many letters mention that the complainants deposited the money in 1985, but have yet to get the money refunds despite the cancellations of their applications.

He said they investigated the matter but none could say where the money had gone.

The major also said many buildings and apartments in the capital have been built violating Rajuk approved plans and designs.