ACC case against 23 people including director of Biman

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against 23 people alleging loss of Tk 1161 crore to Biman Bangladesh Airlines by leasing two Boeing aircraft from Egypt through irregularities and corruption. Secretary of the Commission Mahbub Hossain said that the case took place at the ACC's Dhaka District Office-1 on Monday.

The defendants in the case are - Biman flight operations director Captain Ishrat Ahmed, Deputy Engineer Md. Shafiqul Alam Siddique, General Manager. Abdur Rahman Farooqui, former Chief Engineer Shahid Uddin Mohammad Hanif, former Chief Engineer Debesh Chowdhury, Airworthiness Consultant (CAAB) Golam Sarwar, Engineer Md. Sadekul Islam Bhuya, DGM Kamal Uddin Ahmed, Chief Engineer ARM Kaiser Zaman, System Engineer Sharif Ruhul Quddus, Captain Md. Nazrul Islam Shamim, Zia Ahmed, Chief Purser Kazi Mosaddek Ali, Flight Purser Md. Shahidullah Kaiser Duke, Deputy General Manager. Azad Rahman, manager. Abdul Qadir, Deputy Chief Engineer. Shahjahan, engineer officer. Zahid Hossain, Assistant Manager. Fazlul Haque Basunia, Manager. Ataur Rahman, Chief Purser Mohammad Sajjad Ul Haque, Flight Purser Shahnaz Begum Jharna, Chief Engineer Gazi Mahmud Iqbal.

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According to ACC sources, Biman Bangladesh Airlines leased two Boeing 777-200 ER aircraft from Egypt Air (Egypt) under a five-year contract in 2014. But within a year, in February 2015, one of the aircraft's engines failed after the flight was conducted. Another engine was leased from Egypt Air to keep the aircraft operational. Later that engine was also destroyed. The engine was sent to a US company for repair. In all these processes, Egypt Air and the repair company had to pay Bangladesh Biman 1161 crores in five years.

Later on May 28, 2022, the ACC sent a letter to the managing director and CEO of Biman Bangladesh Airlines and summoned the documents related to the lease. In the meantime, the ACC Deputy Director Md. has investigated the allegations of irregularities and corruption in the process of leasing aircraft in depth and submitted a report. Salahuddin and assistant director Jasmine Akhtar formed a team.
Before this, ACC wants 13 types of documents related to plane lease from Biman. These include inspection reports on aircraft leasing in Egypt, information on leasing team members, procedures for leasing aircraft and information on economic authorities.