Duty-free car facility

WB hands over two vehicles

The World Bank’s (WB) Dhaka office has handed over two cars to the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) following allegations of abuse of duty-free benefits, just 10 days after an Ontario judge threw out the wiretap evidence key to the Padma Multipurpose Bridge (PMB) graft case, saying the wiretap applications were based on gossip and rumour. On February 10, a court in Canada acquitted former executive Kevin Wallace of SNC Lavalin and his subordinates, Ramesh Shah and Zulfiquar Ali Bhuiyan, two Bangladeshi-Canadian citizens, of bribing officials in order to secure a construction contract of the PMB project in Bangladesh. The WB’s Bangladesh office has handed over two cars used by its staff to Customs officials after investigations started into 16 such cars owned by the global lender’s staffers.
The cars were imported into Bangladesh under the Privileged Persons (Customs Procedure) Rules, 2003, which allows officials of the donor agencies to import cars without paying any duties, if permitted by their mission head.  Officials have to inform the Customs authorities about the process of handing over their cars while leaving Bangladesh. They also have to provide the passbooks is ued by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) against the cars. Former communications specialist of the WB’s Dhaka office, Mirva Tulia, and senior social development specialist, Mridula Singh, had used these cars. According to the CIID, Mirva Tulia worked as the communications specialist of the WB’s Dhaka office from October 2012 to August 2016. Mridula Singh worked as the senior social development specialist from March 2013 to December 2014. Mirva Tulia left Dhaka in December 2016 while Mridula Singh left in December 2014 after completing their respective assignments. According to CIID, 16 WB officials brought as many cars (of different models) in 2006, 2007 and 2009. They have left the country, but have not provided the required information on their cars.

Duty-free car facility

WB hands over two vehicles

The World Banks (WB) Dhaka office has handed over two cars to the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) following allegations of abuse of duty-free benefits, just 10 days after an Ontario judge threw out the wiretap evidence key to the Padma Multipurpose Bridge (PMB) graft case, saying the wiretap applications were based on gossip and rumour. On February 10, a court in Canada acquitted former executive Kevin Wallace of SNC Lavalin and his subordinates, Ramesh Shah and Zulfiquar Ali Bhuiyan, two Bangladeshi-Canadian citizens, of bribing officials in order to secure a construction contract of the PMB project in Bangladesh. The WBs Bangladesh office has handed over two cars used by its staff to Customs officials after investigations started into 16 such cars owned by the global lenders staffers. The cars were imported into Bangladesh under the Privileged Persons (Customs Procedure) Rules, 2003, which allows officials of the donor agencies to import cars without paying any duties, if permitted by their mission head. Officials have to inform the Customs authorities about the process of handing over their cars while leaving Bangladesh. They also have to provide the passbooks is ued by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) against the cars. Former communications specialist of the WBs Dhaka office, Mirva Tulia, and senior social development specialist, Mridula Singh, had used these cars. According to the CIID, Mirva Tulia worked as the communications specialist of the WBs Dhaka office from October 2012 to August 2016. Mridula Singh worked as the senior social development specialist from March 2013 to December 2014. Mirva Tulia left Dhaka in December 2016 while Mridula Singh left in December 2014 after completing their respective assignments. According to CIID, 16 WB officials brought as many cars (of different models) in 2006, 2007 and 2009. They have left the country, but have not provided the required information on their cars.