The audit report prepared by the District Office of Comptroller and Auditor General suggested government authorities concerned to take actions against the individuals involved with the crimes and to recover the loss.

ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury had been the city mayor during the period, who was arrested by the joint forces on Wednesday night on charges of corruption.

He allegedly misappropriated money, grabbed government lands, issued work orders without tenders, and paid large amounts of funds in advance to his flunkeys.

Fourteen corruption cases were filed against Mayor Mohiuddin Chowdhury by the now defunct Bureau of Anti-corruption after investigation of allegations of corruption against him.

The bureau also submitted charge sheets in connection with the cases after an investigation had confirmed the allegations. All the cases are under trial at a senior special judge's court in Chittagong, according to sources.

The joint forces seized all documents in connection with the allegations of corruption and malpractices spearheaded by Mohiuddin during his 13-year stint in the office of the mayor.

The Daily Star obtained copies of some of the documents compiled by the joint forces based on which further corruption charges will be framed against him.

Some of the major financial irregularities detected by the audit are Tk 5.14 crore loss to the CCC due to allotment of shops at a shopping complex to a group of companies instead of shop keepers, issuing of work orders worth Tk 8.61 crore without any tender, spending of Tk 16.80 lakh to buy 35 walkie talkies without a tender, lending of Tk 53.45 lakh to ward commissioners which were not recovered even after the dates for repayments had passed, showing false spending of Tk 18.2 lakh through a false master roll in connection with a canal digging project, buying three cars at a cost of Tk 34.65 lakh despite having three other cars which were operational, lending of Tk 13 lakh to female ward commissioners without charging any interest, and irregularities in spending Tk 31.07 lakh for buying equipment for a canal excavation project.

The corruption cases filed against Mohiuddin by the Bureau of Anti-corruption are in connections with returning a fine of Tk 11.31 lakh to constructors in exchange for financial favours, who were fined for not following the city plan for an earth removal project at a graveyard; bringing financial loss to the corporation through constructing a 11-storey building for Singapore Market on a government land at Gosail Danga; causing financial loss to the government by building a bus terminal on a government land at Nasirabad; building a public toilet on a private property at Nasirabad; and in connection with waiving of a fine of Tk 2.14 lakh of a firm for not properly following the work order in an earth filling and expansion project of the central grave yard by violating government rules in exchange for financial favours.

Besides, eight other cases were filed against Mohiuddin for embezzling Tk 24.24 lakh collected as holding tax during 1994-'95 to 2001-'02 financial years.

The allegations were confirmed through investigations and charge sheets were also submitted.

Another corruption case was filed against him in connection with irregularities in allotting shops at a passenger shed at Muradpur bus terminal.

There are also allegations that Mohiuddin established a number of institutions at important city centres on government lands violating government rules and regulations.

He was also responsible for cutting a number of city hills creating spaces for residential plots, CNG refuelling stations, and markets.

He set up a private university in the city on government lands without any approval. The university has a number of campuses located at different places in the city.

A campus of Premier University is built on pillars on a road side city canal and another one is built on top of a refuelling station exposing the students to pollution and the danger of an accidental gas explosion.

Mohiuddin also allegedly purchased a second hand dredging machine spending Tk 2 crore. The machine was collected through Alam Trade International for digging Chaktai Canal. The machine had an emblem of China Tenjing Fisheries Company on it.

According to the sources city corporation engineers could build such a dredger spending only Tk 6 lakh. The new dredger was not necessary as the canal could have been excavated using dredgers belonging to the Water Development Board or Chittagong Port Authority.

Even after buying the new dredger the mayor spent 800 metric tons of rice and wheat allocated by the government for manual labourers employed for canal digging. The mayor spent Tk 5 crore again in collecting spare parts for the dredger, generators that are usually used in ship breaking yards, and pipes for the project.

He allegedly embezzled several crores of taka by allotting shops to his flunkeys and relatives without any open tender or following official procedures.

According to the sources the mayor first allotted the shops to his flunkeys and relatives for cheap then sold those to others at higher prices pocketing handsome profit.

He allotted 32 shops at Nasirabad Women College Crossing to Irin Mashrafi Payel, an under aged daughter of a ward commissioner, Mamun. The shops were built on pillars on a roadside canal. Twenty three other shops on the ground floor of Shah Amanat Super Market were allotted to Kalu Sarder, known as a flunkey of the mayor. Thirty two shops on the footpath of Muradpur, 12 shops on KC Dey Road, five shops on Jail Road, four shops at Memon Hospital were also first allotted to the mayor's own people for cheap and then sold for higher prices to other people.

The corporation could have earned several crores of taka if those shops were allotted through open tenders or news paper advertisements following official procedures.

Mohiuddin and his close relatives allegedly grabbed Tk 1.5 crore through setting up a pharmaceutical factory on Shagorika Road.

According to the sources, the mayor converted a warehouse into the factory. Nurul Alam, a business partner of the mayor's wife was given the contract for constructing the factory building. Although the government has yet to give any approval for the factory, the mayor already spent about Tk 3 crore for buying second hand machinery for it.

The CCC showed Tk 80 lakh expenditure for producing a movie on the liberation war in Chittagong. The corporation issued five cheques of Tk 10 lakh each to the director of the movie, Abdullah Al Mamun. The remaining Tk 30 lakh was shown as expenditure for hiring artistes, renting cars and other logistical support in making the movie. But there was no approval from the Ministry of Local Government for such expenditure for making a movie. Although the movie had been made during Mohiuddin's own party Awami League's regime, it was never released.

Construction and repair works of city roads were controlled by one Jafar Ahmed for the last 10 years. With the blessings of the city mayor he captured most of the construction and repair works using names of three construction firms.

The firms are Chittagong Engineering Construction, SN Traders, and Shahid and Brothers. Hardly any other construction firm got road construction or repair work contracts in the last 10 years.

The mayor took a project at Halishahar to make fuel from garbage, spending Tk 5 crore. The contractor for the project was Nurul Alam, the same business partner of the mayor's wife, Hasina Mohiuddin. Construction of a building for the project had been completed even before a tender was floated.

The city mayor charged 5 to 10 percent from each construction bill of the CCC for a 'mother and child fund'. The corporation earlier used to charge Tk 5 and put stamps on the bills. But in the last two years the mayor charged 5 to 10 percent of each bill in cash for the fund without any stamp.

In the name of introducing a turnkey system by allocating development works without any tender, the mayor actually took unilateral control of the entire contract disbursement process. The new system was designed to give the mayor a free hand in corruption, according to the sources.

Mayor Mohiuddin Chowdhury also bought a Mitsubishi Pajero four wheel drive at a cost of Tk 45 lakh from a private firm violating government rule. According to the rule the automobile should have been collected from a government agency. If such a vehicle is collected from Progati Industries, the government's automobile assembly plant, it would cost around Tk 17 lakh.