Bribe-taking govt official suspended

Over a week after withdrawing him from the controller's post at the office of the Chief Controller of Imports and Exports, the commerce ministry on Monday suspended Md Shahidul Haque who has recently been filmed taking bribes from service seekers.

On instructions from the higher authorities, the ministry has made Shahidul an Officer on Special Duty. It has also lodged a departmental case against him, Hedayetullah Al Mamoon, senior secretary at the commerce ministry, told The Daily Star yesterday.

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The ministry has also launched a further investigation into the allegations against Shahidul, the secretary added.

Mamoon, however, declined to share the details of the preliminary findings of the committee investigating the allegations against Shahidul.

Shahidul could not be reached over the phone for comments.

On October 11, he was withdrawn from his office and attached to the commerce ministry after video clips of his taking bribes surfaced.

The footage, available on the social media, shows Shahidul counting notes at his office in Motijheel, haggling with service seekers over the amount of bribe and putting cash in his trousers pocket.

It was unclear when the video was shot. But commerce ministry sources said their top officials came to know about it before Eid-ul-Azha.

A committee led by the ministry's Joint Secretary Sadar Ali Biswas was formed on September 21, and it launched a probe into the matter after the Eid vacation.

Asked about the footage, Shahidul on October 8 said this was all part of a conspiracy by some officials at his office and outsiders.

Shahidul joined the public service in 1985. Before being made controller at Dhaka office, he held important positions at the commerce ministry, the Tariff Commission, and the Export Promotion Bureau.

According to the rules, businesses have to obtain registration certificates from the CCI&E to import or export goods. The fees for imports and exports are fixed, and they vary depending on the volume of the goods.

A number of businesspeople alleged that they had to pay bribes for getting certificates even though they had submitted all required documents. And Shahidul led the group that took bribes from service seekers at the Dhaka office of the CCI&E.

The head office of the CCI&E is in Motijheel, and it shares the same building with its Dhaka office. The agency has 15 branches across the country.