‘Give me Tk 20 million, and I’ll sign everything’, says PDB executive engineer

“Give me Tk 20 million out of Tk 50 million, and I’ll sign everything.” This is what Nurul Amin, executive engineer of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) in Lakshmipur, is heard telling a man sitting in front of him. A video of the conversation spread on Facebook yesterday, Sunday night.

The video circulating on Facebook is about 8 minutes and 50 seconds long. In one part of the video, Nurul Amin is heard telling the man in front of him, “The AC sir has agreed. For some reason, I won’t budge from Tk 20 million. Tk 60 million is not three times [the amount]; I won’t go below Tk 20 million. If I have to go to the chairman, I’ll go. Let’s see what the chairman says.”

He is then heard saying, “If I take Tk 20 million for a single bill, will the chairman go against me? He’ll give me a posting in the right place.”

In the video, Nurul Amin discusses the cost of a project and the alleged embezzlement of project materials by an individual. He is heard saying, “The calculation is simple: materials worth Tk 3 million are needed for a Tk 300,000 work.

So how many millions’ worth of materials is he embezzling? We can calculate that. He has embezzled materials worth Tk 50 million... Give me Tk 20 million out of Tk 50 million, and I’ll sign everything.”

However, it could not be independently confirmed what the context of the conversation was or who the man sitting in front of him was. In the video, the executive engineer is seen holding something and asking the man, “How much is this?” The man replies, “35, sir.” The executive engineer then says, “Yes, 35, Tk 135,000.” The man responds, “I gave Tk 100,000 earlier, sir.”

Two PDB contractors in Lakshmipur, speaking on condition of anonymity, alleged that executive engineer Nurul Amin demands bribes to approve bills and release payments for various works.

They said contractors do not want to get into dispute with him because bills are allegedly held back, work approvals denied or contractors subjected to various administrative complications if they refuse to pay bribes.

One contractor said, “You have to keep going to the engineer’s office for days to get a bill paid. Bills are held up on various pretexts. Later, the issue of a bribe comes up. If you get into a dispute with him, you face problems both in getting work and in having bills released.”

Several attempts were made to contact executive engineer Nurul Amin by phone for his response to the allegations and the video. However, he did not answer the calls. He also did not respond to messages sent via WhatsApp.

He could not be found at his office when a reporter visited at around 12 noon today, Monday. An assistant engineer at the PDB office said the executive engineer had not come to the office since morning.

Asked about the matter, Sheikh Firoz Kabir, chief engineer of PDB’s Cumilla Distribution Region, told Prothom Alo by phone, “The video has come to my attention. The matter has been reported to the higher authorities. An inquiry committee will be formed and necessary action will be taken.”