Petrobangla inert over Titas Gas scam

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) summoned the managing director of Titas Gas, Mir Mashiur Rahman, and another official of the organisation, but neither of them turned up, on excuse of being unwell.  If they were genuinely unwell, that could be accepted. But when sickness is used as a pretext, then there certainly is cause for suspicion.

Mir Mashiur Rahman has written to the ACC asking for three weeks times on health grounds, yet on that very same day he was attending office. So does that mean the excuse he gave to Titas was false? Similarly he also submitted a physician’s certificate regarding his ill health. This senior Titas official has been telling a string of lies, one lie to cover up another. Similarly, the Titas deputy general manager SM Abdul Wadud also failed to report to the ACC, using ill health as an excuse. This sickness is certainly mysterious.

ACC has rejected the appeal for time of these officials and has summoned them once again. It is hoped that the commission takes due action against them if they fail to turn up this time. These Titas officials have been accused of amassing wealth outside of their known sources incomes, but taking bribes for illegal gas connections and resorting to all sorts of corruption. A number of other Titas officials are also under investigation.

According to a recent report of Prothom Alo as well as reports of a government agency, the Titas MD and other officials of the organisation, along with certain unscrupulous industrialists, have been raking in millions of taka in public money. A Petrobangla report reveals that a certain industrialist has unlawfully taken an additional Tk 750 million worth of gas. He has not paid for this amount despite repeated reminders. This is just one industrial unit. So if all the illegal gas provisions are taken into account, one can just imagine the staggering amount of loss to the state coffers.

The Prothom Alo report was published two weeks ago and yet the Titas Gas authorities remain inert. It is, in effect, aiding and abetting the corruption of the concerned officials by not questioning their failure to report to the ACC. Meter tampering in exchange for bribes is nothing new in Titas. But now they are going as far as taking bribes by the ‘kg’ (the code for lakh or 100 thousand). Prothom Alo has revealed this corruption with has ensnared the organisation from the very top to the field level. If no action is taken even now, then this rampant corruption will not remain restricted to Titas alone. And what is the parent concern, Petrobangla, doing?

The secretary for energy and mineral resources has blandly said that everyone knows about the corruption in Titas but no action is taken as the concerned persons haven’t been caught out. But now they have been caught red-handed. And now if they still remain unpunished, then there certainly is much more than meets the eye.