ACC to submit corruption report against Hasina in bridge toll case
ACC Set to File Investigation Report in Meghna-Gomti Bridge Toll Case
Thebangladaily.com – The Anti-Corruption Commission is scheduled to place its investigation report before the Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge’s Court on Sunday, September 20, in a major case linked to toll collection arrangements for the Meghna-Gomti Bridge. The case names ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and 16 other individuals, with allegations centered on abuse of authority, procurement irregularities and an estimated loss of nearly Tk 309 crore to the public treasury.
The court had earlier extended the deadline for the report after the ACC did not submit it within the original timeframe. Acting Judge Mohammad Alamgir set September 20 as the revised date on June 23.
Allegations over non-competitive contract
The central issue concerns the 2016 decision to assign toll collection responsibilities for the Meghna-Gomti Bridge to Computer Network Systems, or CNS Limited. The ACC case alleges that the contract was awarded through a single-source process after a competitive tender procedure already under way was canceled.
The complaint maintains that the cancellation cleared the way for CNS Limited to receive the assignment directly, without a transparent competitive selection process. Such procurement decisions are significant because toll management contracts involve public revenue collected from bridge users and transferred through state-managed arrangements.
Instead of receiving a fixed payment for managing the toll system, CNS Limited was granted a service charge equal to 17.75 per cent of the total toll revenue collected. The arrangement enabled the company to submit bills totaling about Tk 489 crore, the case documents state.
The ACC’s calculation of alleged loss rests on comparisons with earlier and later toll-management contracts involving the same bridge. Between 2010 and 2015, toll services operated by MBEL-ATT cost a little more than Tk 15 crore. A separate three-year agreement for similar technology, awarded to UDC Construction Limited for the 2022-2025 period, was valued at Tk 67 crore. At that rate, a comparable five-year contract would come to around Tk 112 crore.
Using those figures, investigators contend that the percentage-based arrangement awarded to CNS Limited created an excessive financial burden on the state. The claimed difference is approximately Tk 309 crore.
Seventeen people named in the case
The case was filed by the ACC on October 12, 2025. It invokes sections 409, 420 and 109 of the Penal Code, as well as section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947.
Among those accused are former ministers Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Obaidul Quader and Anisul Huq. Former State Minister M.A. Mannan is also listed in the case.
Other accused include former Secretary M.A.N. Siddique, Additional Secretary Md. Faruque Jalil and Deputy Secretary Mohammad Shafiqul Karim. Engineers Md. Firoz Iqbal, Ibnul Alam Hasan, Md. Aftab Hossain Khan and Md. Abdus Salam have also been named.
Three CNS Limited representatives are among the defendants: Managing Director Munir Uz Zaman Chowdhury and directors Selina Chowdhury and Ikram Iqbal.
Why the toll arrangement matters
The Meghna-Gomti Bridge toll operation is more than a routine service contract because the payment mechanism was tied directly to toll revenue. A fixed-fee system gives the state a known cost for operating collection technology and related services. A percentage-based fee, in contrast, rises with the amount of money collected from users.
The ACC’s allegation is not simply that a contract was expensive. It is that the procurement route and fee structure combined to produce a deal that was substantially costlier than comparable arrangements. The investigation report will be important in clarifying how investigators connect the tender cancellation, the subsequent contract award and the financial-loss estimate.
The court’s next step will follow the submission of the ACC report. The filing itself does not establish guilt; it presents the investigators’ findings for judicial consideration. Any criminal liability will ultimately depend on the legal process and the evidence examined by the court.
The case has drawn attention because it involves senior former political figures, government officials, engineers and executives of a private company. Its outcome may also highlight broader questions surrounding transparency in public procurement, particularly where contracts involve infrastructure revenue and long-term service payments.
For bridge users, the dispute underscores how contract terms can affect the use of public funds even when the charge paid at a toll booth remains unchanged. The ACC’s forthcoming report is expected to set out its final investigative position on whether the Meghna-Gomti toll contract caused the alleged Tk 309 crore loss and whether the accused should face further proceedings.
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