JS body flays Biman for massive irregularities

A Jatiya Sangsad (JS) committee has raised serious concerns over wanton irregularities, financial mismanagement and revenue losses at Biman Bangladesh Airlines, directing high-ups of the national flag-carrier to book those responsible.

The Committee on Government Assurances and Public Undertakings (government institutions), in its sixth meeting's follow-up review session on Tuesday, examined a range of audit objections and alleged irregularities involving aircraft procurement and operations, revenue collection, reservation systems and loss-incurring routes.

The meeting, held at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban with Chief Whip and committee chairman Nurul Islam Moni in the chair, reviewed the implementation of directives issued at its previous meeting and expressed concern over several instances of alleged misuse of public funds.

One of the major issues involved two 15-year-old Dash-8 aircraft that Biman had taken on lease and subsequently purchased after the lease expired despite its procurement policy not allowing the purchase of old aircraft.

The committee questioned the decision and subsequent operational expenditure involving the aircraft, which allegedly resulted in a waste of public money.

It directed Biman to submit, within 15 days to one month, a list of members of the then board of directors and procurement committee involved in the purchase and related decisions.

The lawmakers' body also instructed the authorities to determine responsibility for the "misuse of public funds" and take necessary legal action against those found responsible.

The committee also discussed substantial revenue losses identified by audits due to weaknesses in the Departure Control System and Rapid software.

According to audit findings, passengers on international flights were upgraded from economy to business class against additional payments, but the collected money was not deposited in Biman's accounting system.

To prevent such irregularities and revenue leakage, the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General has initiated a comprehensive IT audit of Biman. The committee directed the airline to provide auditors with all relevant data and records from July to October.

Financial losses resulting from the operation of various routes without proper commercial feasibility assessments also came under scrutiny.

The high-profile parliamentary panel directed Biman to submit relevant board-meeting decisions and detailed income and expenditure statements for each route to assess the financial implications of those decisions.

Another major concern was the full payment made to Sabre, the passenger-service- system provider, despite the company allegedly failing to deliver the entire contracted work.

Biman and the audit department are asked to jointly submit a written report on the matter within seven days.

The lawmakers also noted with concern that Biman had failed to produce agreements- and-payments documents relating to expenditure on the two leased airplanes for examination by auditors.

The airline was directed to submit all relevant documents to the auditors within 15 days, and its authorities assured the committee that they would comply.

The committee also reviewed an audit objection concerning allegations that Biman understated fares for chartered cargo flights on the Dhaka-Guangzhou route during the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in additional revenue not being deposited with the government treasury.

Biman management was directed to complete an internal investigation within one month and submit a comprehensive report. The committee also called for identifying those involved and taking administrative and legal action against them.

The meeting was further informed that 111 outstanding audit objections involving approximately Tk 7.53 billion had remained unresolved against Biman for the period from 1996 to 2021.

Of the 45 audit objections relating to the recovery of money, Biman claimed to have settled eight. However, the audit department did not accept those claims because the airline failed to provide valid bank statements as evidence of the recovery of the money.

The issue of outstanding dues was also discussed.

The committee directed Biman to submit a report within one month, outlining a specific time-bound action plan for settling the audit objections, recovering outstanding amounts and updating the progress of relevant cases and legal proceedings.

The committee emphasised the need to ensure financial discipline at Biman, resolve audit objections swiftly, recover unpaid revenue and bring those involved in irregularities and corruption to account.

It also directed the airline to take "effective measures to transform itself into a corruption-free, technologically modern, efficient and profitable organisation".

Committee members and Whips Mia Nuruddin Ahmed Apu and Md Akhtaruzzaman Mia, along with MPs Tahsina Rushdir, Khondaker Abu Ashfaq, Mohammad Koyser Ahmed, Biswas Jahangir Alam, Mohammad Najibur Rahman and Mohammad Kamal Hossain, attended the meeting.

The Comptroller and Auditor General, the secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, Biman's managing director and senior officials from the Parliament Secretariat, the ministry and the national flag-carrier were also present.

Source: The Financial Express