The Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) remains a stronghold of irregularity and corruption, according to an investigation. Despite the mass uprising and change of government, the fortunes of this vital public institution have seen no improvement — if anything, the currents of corruption have gained new momentum under officials aligned with the fallen government. Officials who wielded enormous power as Bangladesh Chhatra League leaders during the Awami League era, and who were mired in unchecked corruption and wrongdoing then, have built new syndicates within the department under the current government and kept the old patterns of corruption alive, the investigation found. The situation has sparked widespread anger and resentment among DPHE officials and staff. The alleged mastermind of this corruption syndicate is the department’s Chief Engineer, Md Abdul Awal, who, breaking every rule of seniority and rising through an unprecedented, rapid succession of promotions, now holds sweeping authority within the department.
Awal’s substantive post is Executive Engineer. But he has, one after another, taken on three additional top posts beyond his own. A former Chhatra League leader, he is alleged to have used that influence to secure the current charge of Supervising Engineer during the Awami League era, bypassing others in line. Later, toward the end of the interim government’s tenure, he simultaneously secured the current charge of Additional Chief Engineer (Works) and the routine charge of Chief Engineer, an extraordinarily rare combination. According to officials, a powerful syndicate worked behind the scenes to place this official, who leapfrogged more qualified and senior colleagues as if handed an “Aladdin’s lamp,” into these top posts, in a deal allegedly involving a Tk 350 million transaction. The official is now said to be moving aggressively to recoup that money, and continues an unchecked campaign of corruption and plunder, sources allege.
According to the investigation, intelligence agency reports were disregarded when Awal was given charge of the Additional Chief Engineer and Chief Engineer posts under the interim government. Then-adviser Asif Mahmud Sojib Bhuiyan, described in the allegations as corrupt, and then-secretary Rezaul Maksud Zahedi are alleged to have granted him the Additional Chief Engineer and Chief Engineer charges entirely improperly, even though a government intelligence agency’s report contained damning information about his conduct. Remarkably, he remains in his post even under the current BNP-led government.
How a former Chhatra League leader became the department’s most powerful official
A look at Engineer Md Abdul Awal’s political history shows he was an active participant in Chhatra League politics while studying at the Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET). As a former Chhatra League leader, he is alleged to have identified himself as an Awami League loyalist throughout his career and to have harassed other departmental officials in various ways on that basis. He was an extremely influential official through the Awami League government’s 15 unbroken years in power, and paid little heed to rules or regulations, sources say. He is alleged to have built his influence within the DPHE in particular as a close associate of two former Awami League members of parliament from Mymensingh, Mahmud Hasan and Abdus Sattar.
After the fall of the Awami League government on August 5, 2024, Awal reportedly changed his political colors overnight. Whereas associates of the fallen government’s allies were expected to face accountability after August 5, the Awal syndicate instead grew stronger, allegedly under the patronage of Rezaul Maksud Zahedi, the interim government’s Local Government Division secretary at the time, and Asif Mahmud Sojib Bhuiyan, then an adviser.
Emboldened by the adviser’s and secretary’s backing, he grew so reckless in his irregularities and corruption that he seemed to have no time to answer to anyone, sources say. Rising from Executive Engineer (Grade 5) to a top post such as routine-charge Chief Engineer within just two months will stand as an unprecedented and startling example in the country’s administrative history, according to those familiar with the matter.
Md Abdul Awal joined a project (GOB-DANIDA) on March 5, 1998. He moved to the revenue sector in 2006 and was regularized in service in 2013. Yet the department has many officials senior to Awal with far more transparent service records. Without promoting any of them, and disregarding every rule, he was given the top post of Chief Engineer (routine charge) on November 17, 2025. That was not the end: he then applied for the charge of Additional Chief Engineer (Works) on January 4, 2026, and, through an unexplained process, the file was approved at extraordinary speed, with the notification issued on January 11, 2026. Officials say it is virtually unheard of for an Executive Engineer to obtain the routine charge of Chief Engineer, the current charge of Additional Chief Engineer, and the current charge of Supervising Engineer, all within under two months. Officials describe it not as a promotion but as a planned “administrative coup.”
Within the department, the backstory of Awal’s rise is common knowledge. He is alleged to have made a transaction of roughly Tk 350 million to secure the top post. Various sources claim Tk 50 million of that went directly to Rezaul Maksud Zahedi, the then-Local Government Division secretary, with the remainder going to former adviser Asif Mahmud Sojib Bhuiyan. Because Zahedi and Awal are both from Mymensingh, this “regional syndicate” reportedly grew even bolder. Remarkably, before his appointment as Chief Engineer, the National Security Intelligence (NSI) agency was asked in May 2025 to submit assessment reports on five officials. Although Awal’s report reportedly contained damning corruption information about him, that report was mysteriously buried, and he was given routine charge of the Chief Engineer post regardless.
Awal’s alleged misconduct during the Awami League era
Investigators say they have found clear evidence of salary fraud against Engineer Awal. Although he joined the project in 1998, he did not move from the project to the revenue sector until 2006. Yet he is alleged to have drawn Selection Grade pay for the 7th grade from 2002, the 6th grade from 2008, and the 5th grade from 2018. By drawing advance salary over an extended period, Abdul Awal is alleged to have secretly pocketed a substantial sum of government money, conduct that would amount to fraud, forgery, and financial crime. After obtaining routine charge, Awal reportedly moved quickly to recover the money he had spent securing the post, and has been accused of indirectly threatening to remove certain executive engineers and even project directors in various districts. Those familiar with the matter say that if the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) conducts a proper investigation, this allegation alone could result in his imprisonment.
The investigation found that while Awal was serving as Executive Engineer (current charge) in Narsingdi, he resorted to severe irregularities in the construction of an Asian Development Bank (ADB)-financed surface water treatment plant. Although repeated attempts were made to transfer him out of Narsingdi, he is alleged to have stayed on in exchange for large sums of money. He reportedly failed to bring the surface water treatment plant online on schedule at Narsingdi municipality; even after the project’s nominal completion, the DPHE had to form a special team to finish the unfinished work on the facility. A contractor involved in the project said Md Abdul Awal held contractors hostage to extract money, deducting a large portion of their bills if they did not pay what he demanded and causing them financial losses, but facing no obstacles with their bills if they paid up regardless of the quality of the work performed. Similar allegations recur across numerous public-health works and development projects in Narsingdi’s municipalities and rural areas during his tenure there as Executive Engineer.
Engineer Md Abdul Awal’s alleged misconduct has also landed other departmental officials in trouble. From Narsingdi, Awal moved to his home district, Mymensingh, as Executive Engineer (current charge), and in February 2017 also took on additional charge as Executive Engineer in Kishoreganj district. While serving in these two districts, he faces allegations of directly interfering in the procurement process through document manipulation and tampering. Notably, the losses he is alleged to have caused the government through tender fraud in Kishoreganj and Narsingdi have been flagged in audit reports as a “serious unresolved objection” and discussed at a tripartite audit meeting.
Awal took charge as Supervising Engineer (current charge) of the department’s Sylhet circle on September 14, 2017. During that posting, he also took on the role of project director for the “Kulaura and Golapganj Municipality Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation Improvement Project.” But due to his alleged incompetence and lack of foresight, the project, scheduled to run from January 2020 to December 2022, collapsed before it even got under way. He is alleged to have pocketed a substantial sum through the hiring of project consultants. Despite this record of alleged misconduct, he faced no accountability and, by placating certain influential quarters, secured a transfer to his home district’s Mymensingh circle.
While in Mymensingh district, he faced various allegations of irregularity and corruption. As a trusted former Chhatra League figure close to Mahmud Hasan, the Awami League’s former MP for Mymensingh-8, he joined his home district as Supervising Engineer on February 23, 2021. Postings of government officials to their home districts are generally prohibited, but this rule was not applied in Awal’s case as the DPHE’s then-Supervising Engineer. Disregarding the rules, he served for an extended period as both Executive and Supervising Engineer in his home district of Mymensingh. From the time he took charge as Supervising Engineer, Awal grew increasingly reckless in his corruption, sources say. As a former Chhatra League leader with an unofficial business relationship with an Awami League MP, he is alleged to have escaped consequences for all of his alleged misconduct. Using his influence while serving in his home district, he is accused of mistreating officials and staff, acting arbitrarily, practicing nepotism, and committing numerous other irregularities.
The Noakhali case that sparked nationwide controversy
In an episode of severe alleged irregularity, pipes and construction materials worth nearly Tk 55.5 million, funded by DANIDA and stored in Noakhali district, were auctioned off for just Tk 1.885 million. The auction process is alleged to have been carried out in extreme secrecy, on Abdul Awal’s direct instructions. Contractors allege that under a DANIDA-funded project, various pipes and construction materials worth roughly Tk 55 million were being stored in a warehouse next to Noakhali Science and Technology University. These materials, they allege, were put up for auction through a so-called tender notice published in extreme secrecy in a nominal newspaper. As a result, most contractors were unaware and could not take part in the bidding process. Taking advantage of this, Executive Engineer Md Saiful Islam and related officials and staff allegedly sold roughly Tk 60 million worth of materials to a firm called Messrs Shahnaz for just Tk 1.885 million. The auction reportedly took place on October 20, 2024. Executive Engineer Md Saiful Islam told media by phone: “I did not hold any auction. The auction process was run from Dhaka.” Some confidential information later corroborated this account: on January 15, Noakhali’s Executive Engineer Md Saiful Islam is alleged to have traveled to Dhaka and handed over a substantial sum of cash to a representative of Awal’s in front of a bank in Mohakhali. Contractors allege the entire proceeds of that auction ended up in Chief Engineer Awal’s pocket.
Even retired employees were not spared, sources allege
Even the department’s retired general staff were not spared, sources allege. The NSI report states that Abdul Awal took bribes of Tk 100,000 to Tk 500,000 from individuals in exchange for approving pension and Post-Retirement Leave (PRL) files. Those who could not pay allegedly had their files held up for months on end. While serving in his home district of Mymensingh, he is also accused of extorting regular monthly payments from ordinary mechanics and staff by threatening them with transfers. Ordinary citizens have paid the price for Awal’s alleged lack of foresight in public projects: water supply projects built at a cost of roughly Tk 50 million in Mymensingh’s Fulpur and Gouripur municipalities now stand completely defunct. Gouripur municipality reportedly spends Tk 1 million a year on pump operators’ salaries, yet residents do not receive a drop of water. Because the work was not carried out to specification and project funds were allegedly siphoned off, tens of millions of taka in public assets have gone to waste.
It is worth noting that former Local Government Division secretary Rezaul Maksud Zahedi’s ancestral home is in Fulpur upazila, Mymensingh, the same district as Awal’s, and it was reportedly under the secretary’s patronage that Awal changed his political colors and rose to power again despite the change in government, rebuilding his old syndicate anew. Engineer Tabibur Rahman Talukder had reportedly sought to become Chief Engineer by winning over the then-adviser, but that process collapsed after the plan was leaked in advance, leaving the then-Local Government adviser, Sojib Bhuiyan, in an awkward position. Secretary Rezaul Maksud Zahedi is alleged to have seized on that opportunity: citing Awal as a “local man,” he is said to have persuaded the adviser to hand the Chief Engineer’s charge to Awal, described in the allegations as an associate of the fallen government and a former Chhatra League leader. Though framed publicly as simply backing a “local man,” the arrangement, as already noted, is alleged to have involved a large sum of money changing hands behind the scenes.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report