A government inquiry has found irregularities and corruption in 66 areas of the local government sector, from development projects, road and culvert building, public hiring, contractors’ bills and VAT and tax collection to the rent of markets and shopping centres.
The inquiry committee found Tk 27,859 crore in irregularities, embezzlement and abuse of power in these areas over the past 17 years. The report has been sent to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for further investigation.
The investigation report of the Local Government Division sets out a range of irregularities in public spending in the name of development. Drawn up from a review of the Awami League government’s unbroken fifteen and a half years in power and of the period after it, the report looks at the work of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), district councils, city corporations, municipalities, upazilas, the Department of Public Health Engineering and Dhaka WASA.
The irregularities were found in 66 areas between January 2009 and 17 February 2026. They include discrepancies in the use of project money, VAT and tax not paid into the public treasury, bills paid without checking the quality of construction work, irregular hiring and abuse of power.
On 19 October the Local Government Division sent the report to the ACC for a more impartial and thorough investigation. Besides putting a figure on the financial loss in each case, the report recommends legal and departmental action against those responsible.
Tk 6,000 crore in projects in Pirojpur
One of the most significant allegations in the report concerns development projects run by the LGED executive engineer’s office in Pirojpur. The inquiry committee says it found Tk 6,000 crore in corruption in these projects.
It also found irregularities in project spending, the purchase and repair of motor vehicles, salaries and allowances paid outside the approved staffing structure, and the building of roads and culverts.
The report cites irregularities of Tk 11.60 crore in project spending and three vehicle-related cases, Tk 25.88 lakh in vehicle repair money paid into a driver’s bank account, and Tk 48.10 crore in salaries and allowances outside the approved staffing structure.
There are also allegations that a road was built without following the government design and that spending was shown on five culverts that were never built.
Revenue and rent collection in city corporations
The inquiry committee found irregularities in the work of the Dhaka North, Dhaka South, Gazipur, Barishal, Rangpur, Khulna and Chattogram city corporations. They involve revenue collection, VAT and tax payments, contractors’ bills, construction work, the allocation of markets and shopping centres, and hiring.
According to the report, Dhaka South City Corporation caused a financial loss of more than Tk 2.32 crore, including penalty interest, by not paying into the treasury the VAT due on road-cutting fees it collected in the 2016-17 fiscal year. The report cites a further loss of more than Tk 9.15 crore in the deduction and payment of VAT on other works and services by the same city corporation in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 fiscal years.
It also says Dhaka South, Gazipur, Rangpur and Barishal city corporations paid bills of Tk 6.79 crore (Tk 67,948,229) for construction work in the 2018-19 fiscal year without testing the building materials.
Hundreds of crores in market rents
The report also records large irregularities in the collection of rent from the city corporations’ markets, shopping centres and other buildings.
It cites the embezzlement of Tk 184.87 crore in rent collection from markets and buildings of the Dhaka South, Gazipur, Rangpur, Barishal and Khulna city corporations. It also records irregularities of Tk 11.45 crore in trade licence fees that were not collected and Tk 7.77 crore in uncollected rent from community centres and market shops.
The inquiry also found that Rangpur City Corporation moved unspent project money to another fund at the end of a fiscal year instead of returning it to the treasury. The report puts the sum at Tk 20.05 crore and classes it as a financial irregularity.
Serious allegations against former mayors
The report says former Gazipur mayor Jahangir Alam acquired assets worth Tk 7,500 crore. It also sets out irregularities of Tk 66.66 crore involving abuse of power and assets against him and the city corporation’s chief accounts officer, Golam Kibria.
An allegation of Tk 300 crore in corruption against Sadiq Abdullah, former mayor of Barishal City Corporation, is also listed in the report. It further mentions allegations of hiring for bribes and abuse of power during the term of former Dhaka South mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, and irregularities in various activities and market management at Rangpur City Corporation.
Final responsibility of the people concerned for these allegations will, however, require separate investigation and legal process.
Crores in public health engineering
The inquiry committee also found irregularities in projects of the Department of Public Health Engineering. The report includes irregularities in a Tk 60 crore toilet-building project against Mohammad Nasrul, executive engineer of the department’s Cumilla office, and recommends further investigation as well as departmental and criminal action.
Allegations of irregularities in purchases, tenders and bill payments also emerged in a project to strengthen water quality testing, where the committee found irregularities of Tk 24 crore in bill payments. The report also cites irregularities of Tk 58 crore against Saifur Rahman, a former chief engineer of the department.
Contractors’ fines not collected
The report records irregularities of about Tk 58 crore in the use of money from the third Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP-3). According to the inquiry committee, delay penalties were not collected from more than a hundred contractors who did not finish their work on time.
In some cases a large part of the penalty was waived despite the delay, the report says. It recommends further investigation to fix responsibility and establish how much money can be recovered.
Further inquiry recommended to identify those responsible
The Local Government Division’s inquiry committee prepared its report after reviewing charge sheets from various offices and agencies, project audit reports, audit reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General, related documents and earlier investigation reports.
Besides setting out the scale of financial irregularities in each sector, the report recommends further investigation through the ACC, departmental action and legal steps against those responsible.
An allegation of irregularity or corruption in an investigation report does not, however, mean that the person or organisation concerned has been proven guilty in court. Further investigation and legal process will be needed to establish whether the allegations are true, who is responsible and how much money was actually lost.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report