Online Desk  :   The interim government has accused seven influential figures linked to the fascist Awami League administration of masterminding large-scale money laundering operations tied to the country’s power sector, according to an official white paper report. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) announced an investigation into looting in the power sector on Monday. Initial investigations have found that seven senior figures of the fallen fascist government are directly involved in money laundering. In addition, preliminary investigations have found evidence that almost everyone who has been granted permission to operate power plants in the private sector is involved in money laundering.

The seven people who are the main masterminds of money laundering were all VIPs of the fascist government. That is why they are called the ‘Seven Star’ group. They launder the looted money together and are now safely abroad. This Seven Star Group includes former Prime Minister’s younger sister Sheikh Rehana, son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, Sheikh Rehana’s son Radwan Mujib Siddiq, former State Minister for Power Nasrul Hamid Bipu, former Principal Secretary and SDG Affairs Coordinator Abul Kalam Azad, former Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Dr. Ahmad Kaikaus and Summit owner Aziz Khan.

Those who laundered money abroad in the power sector laundered money with their commissions. Apart from this, three former governors of Bangladesh Bank are involved in money laundering. Arrangements are made to pay capacity charges in dollars instead of Taka to facilitate money laundering. The main reason for the dollar crisis in Bangladesh and the severe liquidity crisis that banks are suffering from is money laundering. The dollar crisis has now become acute due to the huge amount of money laundering from the country in the last 15 and a half years.

Despite the arrival of a large amount of foreign remittances from abroad, the dollar crisis in the power sector is not going away. Due to this unbridled looting, the capacity charge is now a noose for the economy of Bangladesh. On the one hand, some banks have gone bankrupt due to this money laundering, while on the other hand, there is a severe dollar crisis across the country. Even real businessmen are unable to buy dollars for business purposes. Banks are struggling to open LCs. As a result, a crisis has been created in the entire economy. The country’s economy has become fragile due to money laundering through the capacity charge. The current government is trying to deal with this.

Iftekharuzzaman, Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), said, “In the last 15 years, the biggest corruption in the electricity sector has been in the name of capacity charge. There was no open competition due to special laws. The irregularities and corruption that have taken place in this sector, especially, are nothing new. We all know that these irregularities and corruption must be brought to justice.” Several officials of the power department said that the owners have sold the rental and quick rental centers to the government several times. Along with this, a few companies have taken thousands of crores of taka in the name of capacity charge.

According to information, between the fiscal years 2008-09 and 2021-22, rental, quick rental and IPP (Independent Power Producer) centers were given 89,740 crore taka as capacity charge in 14 years. In the report of the Monitoring and Evaluation Department (IMED) last July, it was mentioned that the government had given 90,000 crore taka as capacity charge in 14 years. The concerned official of PDB said that if the accounts of the fiscal years 2022-23 and 2023-24 are added, it will be more than 1 lakh crore taka. All of which has been embezzled. According to PDB data, the amount of capacity charge in the fiscal year 2008-09 was 1,507 crore taka. This figure stood at 1,790 crore taka in the fiscal year 2009-10, 2,784 crore taka in the fiscal year 2010-11 and 5,000 crore taka in the fiscal year 2011-12. From 2012-13 to 2017-18 fiscal year, the capacity charge was between 5 and 6 thousand crore taka. In the 2018-19 fiscal year, it increased to 8,750 core taka.

In the 2019-20 fiscal year, it was 11 thousand crore taka, in the 2020-21 fiscal year it was more than 13 thousand crore taka and in the 2021-22 fiscal year it was 13 thousand 700 crore taka. In the 2022-23 fiscal year, the expenditure in this sector increased by more than 25 percent. That year, the capacity charge had to be paid at 17 thousand 155 crore 85 lakh taka. However, during this time, the utilization of the production capacity of private, namely rental and IPP (Independent Power Producer) centers decreased. It is known that in the next two fiscal years, almost the same amount of money had to be paid. All of which was paid in dollars. This is the main reason for the dollar crisis.

According to the information received, during that time, about 10 thousand 623 crore taka was given as capacity charge to the special close summit, which is about 12 percent of the total expenditure. The main sponsor of the summit was Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy. Summit Group became a ‘don’ in the power sector due to its victory. The UK-based company Agrico International is in second place. The company was given 7,932 crore taka. Agrico International actually looted the power sector in Bangladesh with the patronage of Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby. He used to get most of the money from Agrico’s loot. S Alam was Agrico’s shadow agent in Bangladesh.

Chinese company Erda Power Holdings is in third place with 7,523 crore taka. Abul Kalam Azad was Erda Power’s undisclosed agent in Bangladesh. The fourth-placed domestic company United Group was given 6,575 crore taka. The fifth-placed Rural Power Company Limited (RPCL) was given 5,117 crore taka. Bangla CAT Group took 5,670 crore taka in the name of capacity charge. The Payra Coal Power Plant, a joint venture between Bangladesh and China that started production just three years ago, received 4,550 crore taka. Another group was given 4,525 crore taka and Khulna Power Company (KPCL) was given 4,540 crore taka. Summit Group and United Group hold 35 percent of the shares of this company listed on the capital market. The remaining 30 percent are with general investors. As a result, a large part of Khulna Power’s capacity charge went to Summit and United.

Domestic companies Hosaf Group has been given Tk 2,699 crore, Mohammadi Group Tk 2,544 crore, Doreen Group Tk 2,183 crore and Max Group Tk 2,154 crore. US-based APR Energy has been given Tk 2,087 crore and Singapore’s Sembcorp Tk 2,057 crore. Shahjibazar Power Plant has received Tk 1,968 crore, Sikder Group Tk 1,842 crore and Confidence Group Tk 1,574 crore, US-based New England Power Company NEPC Consortium has received Tk 1,528 crore against Haripur Power Plant. Sri Lankan companies Lakshadhanvi & Associates Tk 1,401 crore, Sinha Group Tk 1,391 crore, Anlima Group Tk 1,274 crore, Baraka Group Tk 1,247 crore, Regent Group Tk 1,37 crore and Energypac Tk 1,27 crore. There are some other power plants in this list, whose capacity charge collection amount is less than 1,000 crore taka.

In addition, while importing electricity from India, about 11,150 crore taka has been paid in capacity charge in the last 9 years. Electricity import from the country started in the 2013-14 fiscal year. That year, the capacity charge was about 501 crore taka. In the 2014-15 fiscal year, the capacity charge increased to 922 crore taka due to increased imports. In the 2015-16 fiscal year, it decreased slightly to 840 crore taka. However, in the 2016-17 fiscal year, the capacity charge payment increased to 1,068 crore taka. In the 2017-18 fiscal year, the electricity import increased slightly, and the capacity charge also increased. In that fiscal year, the capacity charge was paid to 1,078 crore taka. In the 2018-19 fiscal year, an agreement was reached to further increase electricity import from India. As a result, the capacity charge suddenly increased to 1,553 crore taka.

In the 2019-20 fiscal year, the capacity charge was Tk 1,493 crore, in the 2020-21 fiscal year it was Tk 1,805 crore and in the 2021-22 fiscal year it was Tk 1,724 crore. And in the 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 fiscal years, a capacity charge of Tk 4,000 crore had to be paid against imports. On the other hand, although rental and quick rental power plants were initially set up for a period of three years, the period has been extended in stages. Again, there are allegations that the same plant has been sold to the government multiple times.

Those concerned said that 25 to 30 percent of the total investment in these plants is paid by the investor, and the rest is met through bank loans. The PDB, i.e. the government, repays that loan with interest (as per the agreement) in 3 years. In addition, profit (return of equity) is paid on equity investment. Even if the government pays the construction cost of the power plant, the power plant remains with that company. Although the term was later extended, the construction cost was paid again against the same power plant. It was slightly less than before. In this way, looting has been done through rental and quick rental. Almost all those who have taken bank loans by getting quick rental licenses are defaulters. This is how the country’s economy has been destroyed through corruption in the power sector.