The nine officials are accused of deliberately accepting sub-standard machinery from the plant's Chinese builder Harbin, as well as dispensing with the approval of higher authorities for the deviation they committed for their personal gains, the case filed with Gazipur Police Station states.

The accused officials are: SA Mayeed (former chairman of PDB), Dr MAK Azad (former member (Generation), PDB), BSMM Haq Fatimi (former project director), Akhtarul Islam (director, Ghorashal power plant), Naimul Hossain (deputy director of designs, PDB), Khandker Iftekhar Uddin (executive engineer, Sylhet 150 MW power project), Chowdhury Nuruzzaman (executive engineer, Civil Works Division-2, PDB), Abdul Halim Sarkar (executive engineer, Baghabari power plant) and engineer Kazi Kamal Uddin (resident consultant, PDB).

The officials in question misused their power, in connivance with each other and with ill motives, and accepted low quality and low capacity gas booster compressors for the PDB, incurring a government loss of Tk 14.45 crore, ACC Assistant Director Ashish Kumar Kundu in his First Information Report (FIR) to the police said.

The contract between the PDB and Harbin stipulated that Harbin supply and install a Man Turbo gas booster compressor (GBC) system that had been manufactured in either France, Germany or the United States. The PDB board approved this decision at a meeting on May 5, 2003, adding that Harbin could provide the same device from any other globally reputed manufacturer providing it could be approved at the project design level.

Upon signing the contract on June 8, 2003, Harbin stated that it was unable to provide the Man Turbo GBC, and would instead provide the same device from the "globally reputable" SGL. Instead, Harbin supplied a low quality and low capacity set of GBC's, manufactured by Shenyang Gufengji Ltd (SGL), China.

The project's director Fatimi initiated the process to accept Harbin's deviation proposal, which was further endorsed by other high officials, including chairman SA Mayeed, despite objections from the project's consultant.

This deviation is further critical as the PDB did not seek the necessary approval from the board or ministry for project equipment to be received from an alternate country of origin than those stipulated in the initial contract.

A seven-member PDB Basic Design Approval Team (PDBBDAT) visited China, whose members were: Dr AKM Azad, Akhatarul Islam, Naimul Hossain Khan, Khandker Iftekhar Uddin, Chowdhury Nuruzzaman, Abdul Hakim Sarkar and Kazi Kamal Uddin Ekram. During the visit Harbin informed the PDBBDAT of some serious parameter changes, clearly stating that the proposed device was not appropriate. Notwithstanding, the team gave positive comments and approved the GBC upon return.

According to data of the PDB and Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), the grossly flawed Tk 360 crore Tongi plant remained out of action for 2231 hours exclusively due to the plant's incompetent Chinese builder Harbin. This shutdown alone deprived the PDB Tk 42.83 crore of revenue, experts say.

The builder's faults include the installation of sub-standard equipment such as gas booster compressors and gas compressors, air compressors, mist eliminator motors, gas relief valves and an assortment of different types of filters.

Any other persons found to be involved in the scandal through further investigations would also be held accountable, the FIR said.