Dhaka: A court here today set April 20 for submitting the probe report in a graft case filed against six individuals, including former Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) commissioner Md Zahurul Haque and two former chairmen of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the order was passed by Judge Mohammad Abdullah Al Mamun of the Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge’s Court vacation bench after accepting the first information report (FIR) of the case. Public prosecutor Delwar Jahan Rumi provided details of the proceedings.
The ACC initially filed the case on December 3, accusing the officials of causing a loss of approximately Taka 9,000 crore to the state. This was allegedly achieved by illegally reducing international incoming call rates and altering revenue shares without proper authorization.
The other accused in the case include former BTRC chairman Sunil Kanti Bose, former vice-chairman Brigadier General (retd) Md Ahsan Habib Khan, former chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood, and former BTRC commissioners Md Rezaul Kader and Md Aminul Hasan.
The case statement reveals that between October 2015 and January 2018, BTRC reduced the call rate from USD 0.030 to USD 0.015 without obtaining government approval. This modification led to a reduction in the government’s revenue share from 51.75 percent to 40 percent, while the share for IGW operators increased from 13.25 percent to 20 percent.
As a consequence, the state incurred significant financial losses, including a revenue-sharing loss of Taka 383.73 crore, losses from reduced call rates amounting to Taka 2,941.99 crore, and a foreign currency shortfall of Taka 5,685 crore.