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Local Government Engineering Department (LGED)
A corruption allegation against a former Tungipara upazila engineer was proven by an official inquiry committee formed in 2016, yet no punishment has been enforced and the officer has since been promoted twice, eventually becoming an executive engineer, official documents show.
The accused officer, Mohammad Manjur Rashid, is currently an executive engineer of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) and serves as deputy project director of the Rural Connectivity Improvement Project.
Despite the findings of the inquiry committee, officials of the Local Government Division (LGD) have failed to dispose of the case for nearly ten years. Instead, the division has repeatedly claimed the matter is “under investigation”, while denying access to documents under the Right to Information Act – claims contradicted by official records seen by this correspondent.
Inquiry findings and financial irregularities
According to a second show-cause notice issued by LGD Secretary Muhammad Ibrahim on 21 April 2024, Rashid committed irregularities while implementing development work on the Bituminous Carpeted Road from Boro Dumuria Bazar to Pandebari Road under Tungipara upazila, part of the “Greater Faridpur Rural Infrastructure (2nd Revised) Project”.
The notice stated that Rashid recorded the road length as 580 metres, whereas the actual length was 548.50 metres.
It further said that although the road was 548 metres long and two metres wide and had already been Herring Bone Bond (HBB) brickwork, the development estimate showed only 140 metres of the road as HBB, with a reduced width of 1.75 metres.
“Through deception and in collusion with the contractor, Manjur embezzled the value worth 851 square metres of HBB salvage,” the letter said.
The notice added, “The departmental case No. 14/2016 filed against you, as the allegations of ‘inefficiency’, ‘misconduct’ and ‘corruption’ brought under Rules 3(B) and 3(D) of the Government Servants Act, 1985 have been proven based on the investigation report, you are hereby directed to show cause within seven working days as to why you should not be given the ‘dismissal from service’ index penalty or any other penalty as per Rule 7(6) of the said rules.”
As of February 2026 – nearly two years after the April 2024 show-cause notice – no response from Rashid has been recorded and no punitive action has been taken.
An LGED engineer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “But the engineer has not replied after around two years and he was not punished. He sits at the headquarters, but the Local Government Division said that he could not be found.”
Promotions amid pending disciplinary case
Official records show that Rashid joined LGED as an assistant engineer on 14 July 2005. Despite the filing of the departmental case in 2016, he was promoted to senior assistant engineer the same year and later elevated to executive engineer on 3 July 2023.
When asked on 17 February, LGED Superintending Engineer (Administration) Md Wahiduzzaman said he was unaware of the matter.
“It is abnormal,” he said. “When a government servant is under investigation, he cannot be promoted as per our service rules.”
However, in December last year, Manjur Rashid claimed that the case had been disposed of with minor punishment.
Official documents reviewed by this correspondent do not support that claim and show no record of any disposal order or penalty.
RTI requests denied, appeal ignored
On 5 November 2025, the correspondent filed a Right to Information request seeking copies of the inquiry committee formation order, the investigation report, and details of action taken against Rashid. The LGD failed to respond within the mandatory 20 working days.
An appeal was submitted on 1 January 2026 to LGD Secretary Md Rezaul Maksud Jahedi, but no reply was issued within the statutory 15-day period. The correspondent later met the officer-in-charge, Senior Assistant Secretary Jesmin Prodhan, and Jahedi himself, but no information was provided, nor was any legal barrier cited.
Instead, on 1 February 2026, LGD sent a letter to the Information Commission seeking clarification on whether the requested information should be disclosed. The letter stated that the case, initiated in 2016, was still under investigation and that sharing information could “influence the investigation and obstruct the legal procedure”.
When contacted on 16 February, Jahedi said, “I ask to take the necessary measures to provide information and they will give the information. I am asking my personal secretary to inform you why the information was not provided to you.”
Asked why the case had not been disposed of in ten years, he said, “I don’t know about it; I have to check.”
Jahedi was posted as LGD secretary about a year ago. Despite repeated written requests from the correspondent seeking information and action, no visible steps have been taken.
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Former additional secretary of the Public Administration Ministry Firoz Mia said responsibility extended beyond the accused engineer.
“The government should first punish officials who did not dispose of the case and hide the information. Without hiding the information, it was impossible to get a promotion. Those who are involved in the promotion board need to be investigated thoroughly,” he said.
He added, “The trend of hiding and neglecting corruption has become a common practice, seriously undermining good governance. The engineer should have been punished when he did not respond to the show cause within seven days.”