A Bangladesh Navy-run shipyard secured a government contract worth 320.71 crore taka to supply Android tablets for a social welfare programme in August. A day later, it signed a separate agreement determining how the money would be divided among three companies.
The shipyard would keep 4% of the contract value, regardless of whether the project made a profit or a loss. A mobile phone company would receive 179.25 crore taka to import tablet components. After taxes and other deductions, the remaining money would go to a third company.
That company, Buraq Brake Limited, is owned by the nephew and niece of Bangladesh's Health Minister, Sardar Md Sakhawat Hossain Bakul.
Buraq Brake had no identifiable record of supplying tablets before the agreement. Its registered office is an apartment in Dhaka's Gulshan-2 neighbourhood. Its managing director was 19 when the company was incorporated in 2021.
The arrangement was set out in a six-page deed signed on August 24 by representatives of Dockyard and Engineering Works Limited (DEW), the Navy-run shipyard; Salextra Limited, a Dhaka-based mobile phone company; and Buraq Brake.
The deed, reviewed by Daily Waadaa, describes DEW's ability to obtain the contract through direct procurement as its contribution to the arrangement. It states that the work was secured with assistance from the private parties.
The tablet contract was one of two procurement deals awarded to DEW by agencies under the Ministry of Social Welfare this year. The other, signed in June, covered wheelchairs and sewing machines worth 21.99 crore taka for people with disabilities.
Together, the contracts were worth 342.7 crore taka, approximately $27.9 million. Neither was opened to competitive bidding.
Both were awarded after the Prime Minister's Office issued a directive requiring ministries to obtain prior approval before engaging the armed forces or military-run establishments in certain government projects. Waadaa obtained a copy of that directive and the Inter Services Public Relation Directorate (ISPR) confirmed the authenticity of the directive.
But Waadaa found no record of that approval in the procurement files it examined.
The investigation also identified a performance guarantee issued by a private company on behalf of DEW, prices higher than several comparable products on the market, and an independent inspection report identifying serious defects in sampled wheelchairs.
Photographs obtained by Waadaa show the Health Minister's younger brother, Sardar Tofazzel Hossain, also known as Liakat, at the Ministry of Social Welfare alongside a Navy officer during the period of the procurement arrangements.
Liakat denied discussing procurement contracts with ministry officials or naval officers.
Social Welfare Minister Professor Dr AZM Zahid Hossain defended the awards, saying the ministry contracted with a Navy-run enterprise, not with any individual.
“We signed an agreement with Narayanganj Dockyard, which is a Navy-owned organisation,” he told Waadaa. “We did not sign any agreement with an individual. It is entirely up to that company to decide whom it assigns the work to. We do not know any of the individuals involved.”
“No, I did not discuss procurement matters,” he told Waadaa.
Asked whether he had introduced representatives of the private companies to ministry officials, he said: “No. I have no relationship or acquaintance with them.”
Buraq Brake Limited was incorporated on November 3, 2021. Its two founding directors were Sardar Rafin S A Hossain and his elder sister, Anika Raidha Leeya. At the time, Rafin was 19 and Anika was 23.
The company's registered address is Apartment C-2, House 1A, Road 79, Gulshan-2, Dhaka.
Waadaa could find no company website, product catalogue, advertisements or previous contracts showing that Buraq Brake had supplied tablets or similar electronic equipment.
The company's name suggests an association with vehicle brake components. The available public record does not establish that it had previously manufactured or sold either automotive parts or tablets.
The siblings' identification documents list their permanent address as Hafizpur village, Chalakchar union, Monohardi upazila, Narsingdi. Their father is Sardar Tofazzel Hossain, the younger brother of Health Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Hossain Bakul.
The minister is a four-time BNP lawmaker from Narsingdi-4, covering Monohardi and Belabo. His younger brother is a vice-president of the BNP's Narsingdi district unit.
Neither the Health Minister nor Liakat is listed as a director of Buraq Brake. Neither appears as a signatory to the tablet contract or the August 24 business deed.
Speaking to Waadaa at his ministry on Thursday, Health Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Hossain said: “I do not know of any company called Buraq Brake Limited. I am not aware of any contract signed by the Ministry of Social Welfare. No member of my family is involved in business.”
Asked whether Rafin S A Hossain was his nephew, the minister acknowledged the relationship. “Yes, he is my nephew, but I have no relationship with him,” he said. “As a citizen, he has the right to conduct business. If he is conducting business legally, there is nothing wrong with that.”
But Liakat was photographed at the Ministry of Social Welfare during the period when the procurement arrangements were being made. One photograph shows a Bangladesh Navy officer in digital camouflage and a man in a black suit seated across a desk from the Social Welfare Minister.
Other photographs show the same Navy officer with civilians in another office, identified by sources as that of Social Welfare Secretary Dr Mohammad Abu Yusuf.
Sources identified Liakat among those present and said he had also attended a meeting in the minister's office.
Liakat offered a different explanation. “It was a meeting about ‘Mukti’ drinking water,” he told Waadaa.
He said the discussion concerned industries associated with people with disabilities and how their operations could be strengthened. Asked how he came to attend the meeting, he referred to his position as a board director.
He denied discussing procurement with the Social Welfare Minister, ministry secretary or naval officers. He also denied introducing representatives of DW, Salextra or Buraq to ministry officials.
Waadaa obtained the six-page joint business deed signed on August 24.
A day earlier, the Department of Social Services had signed a contract with DEW for 66,815 Android tablets at 48,000 taka each. The total contract price was 320.71 crore taka.
The deed established a payment arrangement among DEW, Salextra and Buraq Brake. DEW would retain 4% of the contract value, approximately 12.83 crore taka. The payment was guaranteed under the agreement regardless of whether the business made a profit or loss.
The deed also specified that DEW would make no investment, bear no operating expenses and assume no financial liability. Salextra would receive 179.25 crore taka to import the tablet components.
It would be responsible for import expenses, letters of credit, customs clearance, bank guarantees, warranties and any penalties.
Buraq Brake would receive the remaining proceeds after the agreed payments, taxes and other deductions. The money would be transferred in equal halves into two bank accounts belonging to the company.
Using an illustrative tax assumption of 20% of the contract value, Waadaa calculated that Buraq Brake could receive approximately 64.49 crore taka.
Under that assumption, Buraq Brake's allocation would be about five times the amount retained by DEW. The deed does not specify comparable financial or operational obligations for Buraq Brake.
The arrangement also placed DEW between the government buyer and the private companies. All invoices and delivery challans would be issued on DEW's letterhead.
The private parties could communicate with government officials, while DEW would authorise them to collect government cheques on its behalf.
Government payments would first enter DEW's Trust Bank account in Narayanganj before being transferred to the private parties. Clause 2(ka) states that DEW obtained the work through direct procurement with assistance from the second party, the private business partners.
The same clause treats DEW's ability to obtain government work as its contribution, described in the deed as “goodwill.”
In practical terms, the arrangement allowed the shipyard to retain a fixed percentage while private companies undertook the commercial work and received the remaining proceeds.
On March 24, 2026, the Armed Forces Division of the Prime Minister's Office sent a restricted letter to the secretaries of more than 40 ministries and government agencies.
The letter concerned the engagement of the armed forces and military-run establishments in government projects.
It noted that some projects awarded through direct procurement to the armed forces had recently been referred to the Prime Minister's Office, which had urged the relevant ministries to undertake the work themselves.
The letter instructed ministries seeking to engage the armed forces in projects of national importance to obtain the Prime Minister's prior approval and then submit the proposal to the Armed Forces Division.
The Social Welfare Secretary was among the recipients. Naval Headquarters and DEW received copies. Eleven weeks later, the Ministry of Social Welfare's disability foundation signed the wheelchair and sewing machine contract with DEW.
The tablet contract followed in August.
The procurement files reviewed by Waadaa contain no reference to approval from the Prime Minister's Office. They also contain no proposal submitted to the Armed Forces Division, Ministry of Defence or Naval Headquarters.
The evaluation committee's minutes for the tablet procurement identify approval by the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase as the relevant approval.
DEW's correspondence was addressed directly to the Social Welfare Secretary or project officials. The records therefore raise a question about compliance with the March 24 directive.
Social Welfare Minister Zahid Hossain said the procurement had undergone several rounds of scrutiny. “Before signing the agreement, we conducted several rounds of verification and awarded the contract at the lowest rate. There has been no violation of the law,” he said.
“The prime minister himself was also informed about the verification and selection process before the contract was awarded.”
His statement did not specify whether the prior approval described in the March 24 directive had been formally obtained.
Rezaul Karim, Assistant Director of Finance and Audit at the National Foundation for Development of the Disabled Persons, said the wheelchair procurement was handled at ministry level.
“The ministry approved it. We don't know anything about it. The minister knows,” he told Waadaa.
Asked whether the foundation had obtained approval under the March 24 directive, Rezaul said: “I don't know which March 24 directive you are referring to.”
He maintained that the procurement had followed government procedures.
“As far as I know, the procurement was conducted in accordance with the government's Public Procurement Rules governing direct procurement,” he said.
The shipyard's own role raises further questions.
DEW's managing director, a Navy commodore, authorized Captain Md Nur Hasan to act on the company's behalf. Nur Hasan signed both procurement contracts, arranged for a private company to provide the wheelchair performance guarantee and signed the joint business deed.
A Navy commander signed the price offers for the tablets.
Direct procurement rules permit purchases from state-owned enterprises under specified conditions, including requirements concerning legal and financial autonomy.
DEW is a Navy-run enterprise expressly named among the recipients of the March 24 letter.
The Department of Social Services issued the direct-purchase document for the tablets on August 6. It was issued to DEW alone.
Four days later, at 11 am on August 10, an evaluation committee opened the shipyard's offer, assessed it and negotiated the price in a single sitting. The department had estimated the cost of each tablet at 50,000 taka.
DEW initially quoted 49,000 taka. During negotiations, it reduced the price to 48,000 taka. The evaluation minutes described the final price as “4% less than the approved estimated cost.”
There was no competing bid against which to assess the offer.
The committee was chaired by Md Mosharraf Hossain, the department's director of social security. A week later, acting as project director of SSPIRIT, Mosharraf signed the award. On August 23, he signed the contract.
Mosharraf, who also chaired the evaluation committee, said DEW alone had been invited because the purchase was designated a single-source procurement. He told Waadaa that the decision to use direct procurement instead of an open tender followed “DP approval” and prescribed requirements.
He said a committee had determined the estimated price of 50,000 taka per tablet using the prescribed procedure. Asked whether the committee had independently checked the XT1 tablet’s market price and specifications, he replied: “Yes. If you examine the process, you will find no problem with it.”
Mosharraf attributed the single-day opening, evaluation and negotiation on August 10 to urgency. “There was pressure from the government to implement the Family Card programme. That is why the process was completed quickly,” he said.
He said the committee had decided after receiving the required documents and that the purchase had been approved by the Cabinet Committee. “It was discussed at every relevant level,” he said.
Asked twice whether he knew that DEW intended to transfer much of the work and financial liability to a private company, Mosharraf said he had no knowledge of such an arrangement. He also said the directorate had received no recommendations from the ministry’s political leadership concerning the procurement.
SSPIRIT is supported by a $200 million World Bank credit. The records supplied for this investigation do not establish whether this particular tablet package was financed from that credit or reviewed under World Bank procurement arrangements.
Mosharraf said the tablet purchase was not connected to World Bank financing. “This was not a World Bank matter. It was a GF matter. The World Bank had no involvement in it,” he said. He did not elaborate on the abbreviation GF.
DEW was not the only state-owned company seeking the tablet contract.
On July 9, the Secretary of the Posts and Telecommunications Division wrote to the Social Welfare Secretary recommending direct procurement from the state-owned Telephone Shilpa Sangstha.
DEW made its own request on July 22. That same day, Salextra sent DEW a letter of intent.
The correspondence shows that DEW had a prospective private commercial partner when it sought the contract. The Department of Social Services ultimately selected DEW, without opening the purchase to private suppliers.
The wheelchair procurement followed an even shorter process.
DEW submitted its offer on June 4. The foundation issued the award on June 10 and signed the contract on June 11. The entire process took seven days.
The award letter described DEW's offer as a “tender,” although the reference cited was DEW's own file number. The signed contract left blank the provisions specifying the delivery date, warranty period and penalties for late delivery.
Rezaul Karim said he could not explain why those sections had been left blank.
“I cannot give you an accurate answer to that,” he told Waadaa, adding that he would need to examine the documents before commenting further.
The tablet contract was the largest of the two purchases.
Under the agreement, the government would pay 48,000 taka for each Xtra XT1 Android tablet, including a keyboard and stylus. DEW defended the price during the August 10 negotiation.
According to the evaluation minutes, its representatives described the Xtra XT1 as a “specialised device” suitable for water, dust and humid environments.
They argued that it should not be compared with general-brand tablets available on the market. But the joint business deed records an allocation of approximately 26,828 taka per tablet for importing components through Salextra.
That is 21,172 taka below the government's purchase price.
Waadaa compared the government price with several tablets advertised by retailers in Dhaka.
A Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+, with an 11-inch screen and SIM capability, was listed by Star Tech at 29,500 taka. Adding DEW's own 4,500 taka allowance for a keyboard and stylus brought the comparison price to 34,000 taka.
That was 14,000 taka below the government's price. Across 66,815 tablets, the difference would amount to approximately 93.54 crore taka.
A Lenovo Tab M11 was listed at 22,000 taka. With the same keyboard and stylus allowance, its comparison price was 26,500 taka. That was 21,500 taka below the government price.
The wheelchair prices also raised questions.
The foundation ordered 20,886 adult steel wheelchairs at 8,175 taka each. A standard folding steel wheelchair of the KY-809 type was advertised by a Dhaka retailer at 6,999 taka.
At that retail price, the adult wheelchairs would have cost approximately 2.46 crore taka less.
A Chinese manufacturer's advertised factory price for a basic folding steel wheelchair ranged from approximately 3,600 to 4,320 taka for orders of at least 10 units.
Those factory prices excluded shipping, duties, taxes and other import costs, making them unsuitable as direct estimates of the government's potential savings.
The foundation also purchased 2,500 children's wheelchairs at 8,100 taka each, just 75 taka below the price of an adult chair.
It ordered 2,000 foot-powered sewing machines at 14,500 taka each.
Comparable Singer machines were advertised by Dhaka retailers for between 11,500 and 18,660 taka. The government's purchase price fell within that range.
The sewing machine documents contained another discrepancy.
DEW's delivery note described machines matching the Singer 15CH1 model and stated that they could perform 2,000 to 3,000 stitches a minute.
Retail specifications for that model listed a maximum speed of approximately 1,000 stitches a minute. The retail and factory price comparisons in the draft are dated October 13, 2026. Dollar conversions use 123 taka per dollar.
On September 21 and 22, an inspector from SGS, the Swiss testing and inspection company, visited a warehouse in Wuqing, near Tianjin in northern China.
The assignment was commissioned by DEW. The inspector examined a consignment of 1,584 adult wheelchairs and randomly selected 125 units for physical inspection.
The results were troubling. Thirty of the 125 sampled wheelchairs had major defects.
The sampling standard used by SGS permitted no more than seven major defects in a sample of that size. The problems included loose or wobbling wheels, insecure hand brakes and exposed iron wire on seats and backrests.
The inspector's notes recorded exposed wire on 68% of the chairs examined and an exposed metal edge on every backrest.
The factory refused to allow tyre testing. The report also stated that DEW had not provided product specifications against which the inspector could assess the chairs.
On the first page, SGS recorded its finding: “Not Conform.” The report, identified as CNTSN2026000782-01, was sent to DEW on September 23.
The findings concerned the sampled consignment inspected in China. They do not establish that all wheelchairs purchased under the government contract were defective.
But they raised questions about quality control before the equipment reached its intended beneficiaries.
A wheelchair with a loose brake can move unexpectedly when its user attempts to stop. Exposed wire or metal edges can also create risks of cuts and injuries, particularly for people who remain seated for extended periods.
The foundation's finance official, Rezaul Karim, disputed the suggestion that defects in the supplied products had already been established through the foundation's acceptance process.
“That has not been verified yet. How were these defects identified?” he asked.
He told Waadaa that the goods had not been fully delivered and the foundation's inspection committee had not completed its work.
“The goods have not even been inspected yet,” he said. Rezaul said a committee, including representatives of the ministry, had been formed to inspect the products after delivery.
“Once the goods arrive, a committee that includes representatives from the ministry will inspect them and submit a report,” he said.
“No report has been prepared yet. There is no inspection report so far.”
He said the first consignment had arrived from Chattogram and was being stored at a Navy facility in Shaheenbagh, Dhaka.
The remaining goods were expected to arrive by the first week of the following month, according to the information available to him.
On October 4, the foundation's Director of Administration and Finance, Sona Moni Chakma, instructed DEW to deliver all 25,386 wheelchairs and sewing machines while maintaining the quality specified in the contract.
The contract had identified the foundation's 103 field centres as delivery destinations. The subsequent instruction instead directed delivery to a basement at a Navy facility in Shaheenbagh, Mohakhali.
The tablet contract required performance security equivalent to 10% of its value, approximately 32.07 crore taka. But DEW did not provide the guarantee itself.
United Commercial Bank issued a guarantee on August 19, 2026, at the request of Salextra Limited. The bank document described Salextra as the supplier, although the government contract identified DEW as the supplier.
Salextra's covering letter also referred to a contract dated August 19, four days before the contract between the Department of Social Services and DEW was signed.
The discrepancy raises questions about the sequence in which the private commercial and government procurement arrangements were finalised.
A similar arrangement was used for the wheelchair and sewing machine contract.
On June 14, Captain Md Nur Hasan wrote to Banglamark Limited, a private company based in Badda, requesting that it provide a performance guarantee of approximately 2.2 crore taka on DEW's behalf.
Banglamark's parent group advertises an “Intelligence & Defense” division supplying equipment to law enforcement agencies and the military.
Asked why the tablet performance guarantee was issued at Salextra’s request rather than DEW’s, Mosharraf said: “The banking arrangements were completed with the party with whom the agreement was signed.” He did not explain the difference between the party named in the government contract and the party requesting the guarantee.
The standard procurement contract provided another option for transactions involving government bodies: the buyer could retain part of the payment instead of requiring a bank guarantee.
That provision was not used in either contract. Rezaul Karim said the foundation was unaware of Banglamark's involvement in the guarantee.
“No, we don't know about these matters. Our contract is with the dockyard,” he told Waadaa.
“We don't know who is involved with them or who isn't. Senior officials would be able to explain that.”
The Public Procurement Rules 2025 took effect on September 28, 2025.
The rules introduced disclosure requirements concerning the ultimate beneficial ownership of companies winning government contracts. But the Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority's standard documents for direct procurement contain an exemption for state-owned enterprises.
The relevant provision says such enterprises “will be excused.” In the tablet transaction, DEW appeared as the government supplier. Buraq Brake did not.
Neither the company nor its directors, Rafin and Anika, appeared in the public procurement records examined by Waadaa.
Their involvement became apparent through the private business deed and company registration documents.
The arrangement raises a question about how beneficial ownership disclosure requirements apply when a state-owned enterprise obtains a contract and subsequently allocates substantial proceeds to private companies.
The procurement rules also require the use of the electronic government procurement system, subject to applicable exceptions and procedures.
The wheelchair and tablet purchases were made through direct procurement, without competitive bidding among private suppliers.
The deed cited Rule 54 of the Public Procurement Rules 2008 as part of its legal basis. Those rules had been superseded before the August 2026 agreement was signed.
By October, delivery of the wheelchairs and sewing machines had begun.
At a Navy building in Mohakhali, cartons bearing the government seal and the disability foundation's name were stacked beneath blue tarpaulins.
The cartons stood between concrete pillars marked with yellow-and-black hazard stripes. Each wheelchair carried three lines of Bangla text on its backrest.
The first read: “*Bikroy er jonno nohe*” — “Not for sale.” The goods had been purchased for distribution to people with disabilities.
But Rezaul Karim said the foundation had not distributed any of the newly arriving equipment to beneficiaries. “We haven't distributed a single one this year,” he said.
He explained that the goods arriving in 2026 related to the previous year's procurement.
“They will be inspected first and then distributed. Distribution will be handled centrally. Nothing has been distributed so far.” Asked to confirm that no distribution had taken place, he replied: “No.”
The tablet contract faced a separate delivery issue. The tablets were scheduled to be delivered by October 27.
In a letter dated October 1, DEW informed the project director that installing SIM cards, loading management software and attaching Grameenphone stickers was taking approximately 22 minutes per tablet.
The shipyard said the process would require an extension of the delivery schedule.
Mosharraf told Waadaa that 9,000 tablets had been delivered and that their inspection had been completed. Asked how much had been paid, he did not provide a figure.
Asked to make available the cost estimates, evaluation committee minutes, technical assessments and approval records, he said access would have to follow prescribed procedures involving the ministry and relevant authorities.
He confirmed that a request should be submitted through those authorities.
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Additional reporting by Arifur Rahman Shibli and Md Zaker Hossain