The 1,200 megawatt coal-fired power plant was built at a cost of Tk 57,000 crore in Cox's Bazar's Maheshkhali.

The investigation was launched following allegations of corruption made by some of the employees of the Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCBL) that operates the Matarbari power plant.

Subsequently, the ACC in the middle of July assigned Subel Ahmed, the deputy director of ACC Cox's Bazar integrated office, to investigate the allegations.

The commission is currently looking into eight allegations: siphoning money in the name of cost adjustment, corruption in land filling up works, constructing roads with concrete instead of bitumen, selling of scrap, irregularities in the appointment of consultant, purchasing goods by changing the country of origin, supplying low-quality materials and embezzling the leftover material of foreign contractor Hyundai.

"We have some proof of corruption," Ahmed told The Daily Star.

Once the enquiries are complete, the office will send the report to the commission and the authority will take a decision on the issue, he added.

An additional $140 million (about Tk 1,600 crore) was shown to be spent in the name of cost adjustment or variation for 16 contracts, according to the ACC.

To arrange the money, they used $113.58 million from the provisional sum for the physical contingency fund, which can only be used in case of severe disaster or epidemic with mandatory approval from the planning ministry.

Moreover, they also diverted funds from elsewhere to the physical contingency fund to spend the money, the ACC investigation found.

A local contractor was assigned to fill up the area where the Matarbari project is located. The contractor would have to provide 8.5 lakh cubic metres of sand from an area 13 kilometres away from the site. The rate quoted for the exercise was Tk 315 per cubic metre.

The work order was cancelled when the contractor could not complete the work in time.

Without calling for a fresh tender, the work was given to a foreign contractor. The firm was provided $7.7 or Tk 925 to transport one cubic metre of sand from a kilometre away.

According to the latest rate schedule, the total work can be done with only Tk 14 crore.

Besides, corruption was done while laying concrete roads instead of bitumen roads, where $21.6 million or Tk 170 crore was spent by giving illegal cost adjustments, the ACC found.

About Tk 53 crore was embezzled from selling scraps illegally, while about Tk 8 crore was siphoned when appointing a consultation firm, according to the ACC's preliminary investigation.

Meanwhile, the energy ministry withdrew Md Abul Kalam Azad, the managing director of CPGCBL and also the project director of the Matarbari power plant project, after his involvement was found in the stealing of copper cables worth Tk 17 crore from the plant in broad daylight on August 31.

The ACC on September 25 filed a case for the incident against six, including Azad.

News Link: Matarbari power plant: ACC opens probe into Tk 1,000cr graft allegation