A video showing bundles of cash changing hands inside the office of a senior Education Engineering Department official went viral this week, stirring controversy, but those involved say the money was exchanged between two contractors over a performance guarantee and that no government official received any of it.

The video, which has circulated widely on social media this week and prompted reports in several media outlets, was actually recorded on May 26, 2022, inside the office of Md Hasan Shawkat, then executive engineer of the EED's Dhaka Metro Circle. He is now the circle's superintending engineer.

Daily Waadaa spoke to the two parties involved in the transaction as well as EED officials and employees who were present. Their accounts indicate that the money seen in the video was part of an arrangement involving a 4.8 crore taka construction contract at Government Bangla College.

Dhali Construction Limited had secured the building project through a tender. Under the contract, it had deposited a 5% performance guarantee, amounting to around 24 lakh taka.

According to EED sources, Dhali Construction was a loan defaulter and later declared itself bankrupt, leaving the Bangla College project stalled. The EED's Dhaka Metro Circle then sought to get the unfinished work completed.

Miron Enterprise, owned by then-Jubo League leader Rakib Hossain Miron, subsequently agreed to step in as a third party and complete the remaining work.

Dhali Construction, however, stipulated that the performance guarantee it had deposited with the bank when it secured the contract would have to be reimbursed as part of the arrangement.

The company also wanted EED officials to witness the transaction. Its representatives said they were concerned that they might later have difficulty recovering the money because Miron, as a Jubo League leader, was politically influential at the time.

The parties therefore signed an agreement transferring the remaining work and settling the security money in the presence of EED officials.

According to those involved, Iqbal Hossain, an employee of Miron Enterprise, openly recorded the transaction as evidence that the money had been paid. They said the footage was not secretly recorded.

The video shows Hasan Shawkat sitting in his office while three people sit in front of him. Cash is exchanged between two of them.

The recipient was Firoz Ahmed, a director of Dhali Construction, while the person handing over the money was Miron. Another person can be seen standing behind them, while Iqbal recorded the transaction.

Miron said Dhali Construction wanted to recover its approximately 24 lakh taka performance guarantee after it became unable to continue the project.

“Dhali Construction wanted to quickly recover the performance guarantee money it had deposited. The amount was around 24 lakh taka. Of that, we handed them 5 lakh taka on the day the agreement was signed,” he said.

“We recorded the transaction so that they could not later deny receiving the money.”

Miron said the EED had approached his company after Dhali Construction became unable to carry out the work.

“There is not much profit in this type of work. Even so, we took it on at the request of the officials. In other words, we were the third party,” he said.

“A written agreement was made so that we could complete the remaining work and the bills would be paid into our account.”

Miron said Iqbal recorded the payment specifically to document that Dhali Construction had received 5 lakh taka of the performance-guarantee amount.

“I cannot say how that video ended up on social media or with the media,” he said. “But there was no illegal transaction or exchange of bribes here.”

Firoz Ahmed, the Dhali Construction director seen receiving the money, corroborated Miron's account.

“Miron was a Jubo League leader. They were in power at the time. We were not confident that we would get the security money back,” Firoz said.

“That is why the transaction took place in front of Hasan Shawkat, who was then the executive engineer at the Education Engineering Department. He was kept as a witness. He did not take any money.”

Shawkat also denied receiving any part of the cash seen in the footage.

“The two parties were entering into an agreement and the work was being transferred. They paid the PG money to each other,” he told Waadaa. “But it is being alleged that I took a bribe. That is completely false and baseless.”

Questions remain, however, over the process through which a government contract awarded to one company could be completed by a third party and whether a private cash settlement inside a government official's office complied with applicable rules.

Asked whether there were legal restrictions on such an arrangement, Shawkat said it was common for third parties to complete unfinished projects.

“This happens frequently. As far as I know, there was no violation of the law in this case,” he said.

He said he was also unaware whether allowing the cash transaction to take place in his office could itself constitute an offence.

“I also do not know whether their transaction in front of me inside my office constitutes an offence under the law,” Shawkat told Waadaa. “But I can say this much: I did not take a single penny from them. No one will be able to prove otherwise.”

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