5 govt staffers detained over Tk 2,574cr graft at Pirojpur LGED office

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has detained five government employees, including four officials from the district accounts office, in Pirojpur last night.

The detainees are Mohammad Mohasin, 54, district accounts and finance officer; Superintendents Md Masum Howlader, 39, and Md Nazrul Islam, 41; former district accounts and finance officer Md Alamgir Hasan, 60; and AKM Mozammel Haque, 59, accountant of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) office in Pirojpur.

The ACC kept the arrestees at Pirojpur Sadar Police Station overnight.

Confirming the matter, Md Aminul Islam, deputy director of the ACC's integrated district office in Pirojpur, said that based on corruption allegations, the ACC conducted an investigation.

On Tuesday, he filed eight cases against 23 individuals, including the five arrested government employees, in this connection.

There are allegations that over Tk 2,574 crore was drawn from LGED without completing the respective projects, with the help of officials from both the Pirojpur LGED office and the accounts office. Additionally, the LGED could not provide documentation for spending Tk 1,101 crore.

An internal investigation by the Local Government Division and the LGED chief engineer's office also identified irregularities at the Pirojpur office.

Finally, the ACC conducted its own investigation and found 23 individuals involved in the corruption.