WIKILEAKS EXPOSÉ: Bangladesh Abul a 'less than honest' man: Ex-US envoy

Dhaka, Sept 3 (bdnews24.com) — Former US ambassador in Dhaka James F Moriarty branded communications minister Syed Abul Hossain as a 'less than honest' man in his business dealings, according to cables leaked by whistleblower WikiLeaks.

In his cable sent in February last year, Moriarty said prime minister Sheikh Hasina was relying on the minister for the infrastructure development projects she had pledged to the people.

"The [communications] minister, who has a reputation for less-than-honest business dealings, remains focused on delivering the infrastructure projects he and prime minister Sheikh Hasina have promised to Bangladesh voters," Moriarty wrote in the summary of the message.

He said that allegations of corruption had continued to surround the communications minister.

The US ambassador, who completed his service in Bangladesh and departed on June 17, made the comment on the basis of 'other high-ranking government officials who acknowledged to the US problems with the minister's way of doing business'.

Moriarty also expressed his concern over Hossain's 'close ties to China'.

He sent the cable after he had conversed with the communications minister at a dinner party on Feb 3 last year.

WikiLeaks leaked the cables involving Hossain's affairs in its latest releases on Aug 30.

PADMA BRIDGE AND JICA

Though the minister expressed satisfaction with the levels of support donors planned to provide for the Padma Bridge project, which will directly link southwestern Bangladesh with Dhaka and the more prosperous eastern region of the country, he complained about the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) that it was insisting on dividing the contract for the bridge into two parts.

The Japanese proposal to split the bridge into two structures, Abul said, would allow two different contractors to put blames for any problems on the other contractor.

He had told Moriarty that the proposal of JICA that pledged $500 million for the bridge was opposed by the government and other donors.

According to him, the World Bank pledged $1.5 billion for the bridge, the Asian Development Bank $550 million and the Islamic Development Bank $130 million, primarily in soft loans.

He, however, asked the US envoy to use his good offices with Japan and US support for the World Bank and ADB to urge JICA to reconsider its stance.

Moriarty said several US firms would be interested to get the job of dredging involving the construction of the bridge.

Apart from the Padma Bridge, Abul told the US envoy that his 'two other linchpins in the infrastructure-for-elections plan' were to expand Dhaka-Mymensingh and Dhaka-Chittagong highways.

He told Moriarty that he had already awarded seven contracts to the foreign firms, mainly Chinese, and three others to local firms.

RAILWAY AFFAIRS

The minister urged the US to support a Dhaka infrastructure project to build an elevated road and rail crossing that would be 'tangible proof of the strong US-Bangladesh relationship'.

"We need a visible USAID project in the metropolitan area," he told Moriarty.

He also described several steps to modernise the country's railway.

He said the prime minister assigned him to develop an elevated rail system in Dhaka to ease the city's traffic crisis. JICA had expressed its interest to fund the project.

The minister also said the government had a plan to transform Bangladesh Railway into an independent, still the government-owned, entity from its current structure as a government-run enterprise.

Moriarty, in his cable, said Abul was 'confident that these plans to corporatise and then perhaps privatise Bangladesh Rail would greatly improve its efficiency and quality of service'.