Sources said frauds committed by some cargo sub-agents in Dubai in connivance with Biman staff have deprived the national carrier of crores of taka in revenue. A number of documents obtained by The Daily Star indicate the sub-agents have been recording and paying for far less volume of goods than were actually shipped through the airlines.

HOW IT WORKS
Biman's general sales agents (GSAs) for passenger and cargo are Dnata in Dubai and Transworld in Sharjah.

When a customer who wants to ship a cargo approaches these agencies, they try to book space with Biman. Biman official concerned refuses and says there is no space available. But, at the same time, Biman tells the customer to make booking and give customer-details to keep him on waiting list.

Then, within a few hours, the customer gets a call from a cargo operator saying they can ship the cargo. These operators take the business and send the cargo, while the conniving Biman officials get kickbacks.

Separate documents are then prepared -- one for the Dubai office, where the lesser volume is recorded, and another for Dhaka office, where the actual volume is shown for clearance.

For instance, copies of an airway bill, bearing the same serial number and charged to the same customer, give different billable weights. In some cases, copies of the same document bearing the same airway bill number name different cargo operators -- a practice quite alien to the industry and reflect the extent of deceit committed by the small-time operators.

One of the airway bills in question, numbered 997-8897-2520, dated May 17 last and charged to M/s Dhaka Trade International, shows a 228kg consignment in five pieces was handled by Darwish Murad Clearing and Shipping Services. Yet another copy of the same bill but dated May 18 shows that M/s Tour Care Travel and Cargo handled 2,880kg involving 25 pieces for the same client. The first copy of the document charges Dh4,455 and the second Dh54,855 on the same customer.

DETECTION
In a letter dated June 23 last, Biman's finance manager in Dubai first pointed out the discrepancy to Biman's controller of accounts and hinted such frauds might have been taking place for quite some time.

He wrote: "Kindly be informed that on receipt of sales report for the month of May 04 on June 15, 2004, regional manager, Dubai informed that cargo sales revenue seems much less than the total cargo handled for the same month and advised me to re-check that the cargo sales figure is correct.

"Accordingly, I re-checked all the airway bills in my office and also visited airport office and checked our airway bills with cargo manifest kept at airport and found weight discrepancy and accordingly raised short collection letter to the GSA and realised AED 1,16,987.35 (Tk 18.54 lakh) involved as short collection for the months of April and May, 04.

"Please note that it took from June 15, 2004 to June 21, 2004 for preliminary re-check of airway bills and cargo manifest from January 03, 2004 will raise final short deposit on receipt of all the cargo manifest kept at the airport office. However, we have asked the GSA to deposit AED 2.50 lakh (Tk 39.62 lakh) for discrepancy during that period. After final checking amount will be settled with GSA," the letter read.

It said the detection led them to re-check previous airway bills with the cargo manifests kept at the airport and identify previous discrepancies, which will be realised accordingly.

Biman's Dubai Station Manager Kazi Akhtar admitted to The Daily Star that a high-powered investigation team is currently in Dubai to look into the scandal. "We've detected the weight discrepancies after checking the cargo manifests. We have bank guarantees of the GSA. In case of forgery, we can claim the amount from them," the newly appointed station manager said.

Other sources in Dubai confirmed they have checked the shipments of 2003 and 2004 and detected discrepancies amounting to around Tk 1 crore.

Sources at civil aviation and tourism ministry said, based on the probe report, legal actions and other measures will be decided.

Biman's Regional Manager in Dubai Khwaja Jonaid who has recently been called back told The Daily Star the onus of detecting the fraud lies with Biman officials in Dhaka, as they receive both the audit coupon sent from Dubai as well as the second and the third coupons showing the actual volume of goods dispatched.

"By comparing the coupons, it should have been easy for the head office to detect any anomalies in documents and the actual weight of cargo," Jonaid noted.