ACC drive at DNCC over 380 Walkie Talkie purchase scam

An enforcement team of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Sunday conducted a drive at Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) over its purchase of 380 walkie talkies at an exorbitant rate from an ineligible contractor.

On Friday (15 August), country's leading newspaper 'Daily Sun' published a news title “Inside DNCC’s costly walkie-talkie deal with a fraud firm”.

The report said, “Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has purchased walkie-talkies at an exorbitant rate – nearly six times higher than comparable purchases by other government bodies, allegedly through collusive price assessments, and awarding the contract to a company that failed to meet the tender’s qualification criteria.”

An ACC press release on Sunday said that in response to allegations of irregularities and corruption in the procurement of walkie-talkies by DNCC, which pointed to the misappropriation of state funds, the ACC conducted a drive at its headquarters.

During the preliminary review of the allegations, it appeared that despite not meeting the required experience criteria stated in the tender conditions, a local company was awarded the contract — and that company had used a certificate from a Chinese firm.

The enforcement team spoke with LGED's chief engineer, superintendent engineer and executive engineers, and collected important records.

It also said that primary observation revealed that the walkie-talkies were procured by DNCC at a much higher price than those procured by other government entities.

The ACC sought the detailed verification, all procurement-related records were from DNCC and it also said that after reviewing these documents, the team will submit a detailed report to the Commission.

While Bangladesh Police purchased walkie-talkies for Tk47,520 each, and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) bought them for Tk51,935 apiece, DNCC paid Tk2.94 lakh for each unit.