AL man held over Sunamganj dam construction graft

Sunamganj district Juba League convener Khairul Huda aka Chapal has been detained in a case filed over corruption in constructing dams in Sunamganj haors and subsequently damage of crops worth millions of taka.

Khairul Huda, also the president of the district Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is one of the top contractors for constructing dams in Sunamganj haor.

Juba League is the youth wing of ruling Bangladesh Awami League (AL).

Over 166,612 hectares of cropland were washed away when dams in 154 haors collapsed last April, affecting as many as 325,990 farmer families in Sunamganj district.

On 2 July, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed a case against 61 people, including dam contractors and 15 officials of Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), for their alleged involvement in irregularities in implementing haor embankment projects in Sunamganj.

An ACC team arrested Chapal at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka around 11:45pm Tuesday.

Chapal, also a director of the country’s apex trade body Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), is the former general secretary of Sunamganj district AL.

He is also the younger brother of Sunamganj district council chairman Nurul Huda Mukut.

ACC deputy director (public relations) Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya confirmed the arrest of Chapal to Prothom Alo.

The ACC on the day of filing the case arrested suspended executive engineer of Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) Md Afsar Uddin and local contactor Bachchu Mia from the city's Motijheel area.

They are now behind bars.

Apart from the ACC case, Sunamganj District Bar Association general secretary Abdul Haque on 3 July filed another case on behalf of the association, accusing 78 of the Project Implementation Committee which also included names of 61 accused in the ACC case.

The ACC is also investigating the case.