Russia trip of 17 govt officials raises questions

The government has been procuring wheat from a controversial Russian firm at higher prices for two years while 17 officials of the Ministry of Foods and the Directorate General of Food, who are directly involved in wheat procurement, visited Russia during this period.

Bangladesh procured 1.9 million tonnes of wheat from the Russian state-owned JSC Foreign Economic Corporation 'Prodintorg' in the last five years, and top officials holding the ranks of joint secretary to deputy secretary and the director general of the food directorate travelled to Russia.

The government order (GO) on the trips stated the objectives of the trips were to attend the food security seminar and workshop while the Russian firm bore the expenses.

National Electric Group, owned by Mia Sattar and Amiruzzaman Sohel who are known as close to former food minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder, is the local agent of Prodingtourg in Bangladesh. National Electric Group works for various Russian companies in power and energy sector, according to their website.

Mia Sattar told Prothom Alo, “Government officials visited Russia at the invitation of the Russian government under the agreement; so, I have nothing to say about it.”

The government procured 500,000 tonnes of wheat from Prodintorg in 2022, but the price was allegedly about USD 50 higher than the regular price per tonne. At that time, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) criticised the procurement of wheat at such a higher price. Under the government-to-government (G2G) agreement, the food directorate bought wheat at a price of USD 430 per tonne while the market price was about USD 380 per tonne. Officials started travelling to Russia next year.

Experts said foreign trips financed by the importer company to the importer create a conflict of interest, as well as raise questions on the neutrality of officials and the protection of national interest. When grains are imported by a certain company and officials related to import take foreign trips financed by that company, it opens the window for corruption.

Prothom Alo could not reach Sadhan Chandra Majumder over mobile phone for comment. He did not respond to WhatsApp texts either.

Food Ministry secretary Md Ismail said, “The trip of 17 officials of the ministry and the directorate is not illegal per law. They travelled to Russia at the permission of the government. However, I went on no such trip as the secretary.”

According to the Public Procurement Act, no third party can be involved in the G2G process. Besides, a circular issued in 2016 on G2G procurement states there will be an eight-member team from the ministries concerned to negotiate and fix prices with no involvement of any third party.

A review of the government orders shows more officials travelled to Russia in March this year. They were the additional director general of the food directorate Abdullah Al Mamun, joint secretary of the food ministry Md Mohsin, deputy secretary Uttam Kumar Roy, legal adviser and deputy secretary of the food directorate Abu Yusuf, deputy secretary Md Kamruzzaman and Khulna regional controller of the food directorate Iqbal Bahar Chowdhury.

Three officials visited Russia on 20-24 May to attend a food security seminar, according to the government orders. They were director of the food directorate Tapan Kumar Das, Khulna regional director Abdus Salam and Rangpur regional director Ashraful Alam.

Three more officials, who were directly involved in the wheat procurement process, travelled to Russia on 17-20 December last year to attend the Challenges for Food Security seminar. They were director general of the food directorate Shakhawat Hossain, acting director general AKM Mamunur Rashid and director (collection) Md Moniruzzaman.

Md Moniruzzaman told Prothom Alo, “There is no problem to travel abroad at the invitation of Prodintorg, because they had invited us and we went abroad only after the approval of the ministry.”

Another five officials also visited Russia on 21-25 May last year. They were deputy secretaries of food ministry Kula Pradeep Chakma and Sharmin Yasmin, chief accountant of food directorate Ranak Sufia Afsana, deputy director Abdullah Al Morshed and Chittagong regional director Abul Quader.

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) executive director Iftekharuzzaman told Prothom Alo that it is a direct violation of the Public Procurement Act to take foreign trips financed by the importing company. It is unethical and corrupt to enjoy such foreign trips, spending of public funds. Officials concerned must be held accountable and examples must be made so that none can further misuse power, he added.

This report appeared in the print and online editions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Hasanul Banna