Tk 43 lakh anomalies in 10 overseas Biman stations

An official audit report, placed in the parliament on Tuesday, revealed the irregularities and misdeeds. The audit conducted for the period from July 1999 to June 2001 detected 26 cases of 'serious irregularities and losses' by Biman officials and staff in those stations.

Yangon, Abu Dhabi, Kathmandu, Frankfurt, New Delhi, Singapore, Mumbai, Dubai, New York and London are the branches plagued by corruption, the report revealed.

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The comptroller and auditor general presented graft cases in 2000-01 fiscal's audit report and recommended realising the money from officials and staff concerned.

By drawing unauthorised daily allowances and foreign allowances, the station officials and staff of Frankfurt, New Delhi, Singapore, Mumbai, Dubai and New York stations caused a loss of Tk 16.35 lakh.

In New York, the airline counted a loss of Tk 8.54 by paying additional cargo handling charges.

Bypassing the rules, Biman officials in Kathmandu misappropriated Tk 4.10 lakh as education allowances.

Irregularities of Tk 2.92 lakh were reported in New Delhi, Dubai, New York, Kathmandu and Abu Dhabi where the staff paid unauthorised utility bills.

Biman office did not provide budget allocations and accounts to them for actual expenditure for 22 outposts for fiscal 1999-2000 and 2000-2001, the auditors also said.

Biman authorities realised Tk 5.71 crore during 1999-2000 fiscal following their audit objections. However, nothing could be realised in fiscal 2000-2001, auditors claimed.

Gross irregularities in the airline involving 1148 pending audit claims totalling a loss of Tk 213.54 crore to the government exchequer were recorded since 1972.