Sources said to steer out of controversy the government-owned Chinese company has mounted pressure on fellow government-owned company CMEC to withdraw its allegations against Harbin.

The CMEC had accused the PDB of siding with Harbin in Chandpur deal and filed a petition with a review panel of the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the planning ministry. The review panel on October 18, 2005, disqualified Harbin and rejected its Financial Proposal since no Technical Proposal was submitted by it at the second stage.

On February 24 this year, the CMEC submitted a complaint with the chief of the caretaker government. On March 11, the CMEC requested intervention by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for upholding verdict of the first Review Panel formed by the IMED to investigate irregularities in the project. Another complaint was lodged with the adviser for power on March 29.

None of these letters were responded to and nothing has changed.

Harbin was blacklisted by the Eastern Refinery Ltd (ERL) last year for failing to install and launch a small 3-MW power plant. It had earlier installed and launched the simple cycle 80 MW Tongi power plant with substandard design and machinery, causing the plant to trip more than a hundred times since 2005.

Chandpur project is one of the five controversial power projects that were scrutinised by a technical committee of the caretaker government to detect anomalies in it. The committee in early May cleared the project maintaining that Harbin's performance and dealings were dubious.

The committee headed by former vice-chancellor of Buet Prof Abdul Matin Patwari okayed it since the cabinet of the past BNP-led alliance government had approved it and therefore legalised all bidding anomalies. The committee concluded that Harbin's implementation of Chandpur plant would be strictly monitored and cost of the project would not be increased.

PDB sources said that during investigation, the technical committee was mainly briefed by the same group of PDB people who had violated rules and were identified by the Review Panel for their incompetence, and who openly campaigned for Harbin.

"For example, the project director who wrote a letter to Harbin seeking Technical Proposal at the second stage 11 days after expiry of tender submission date continued to serve in the same position, and brief the committee. So, he justified the decision in favour of Harbin to the committee by claiming a cost saving of Tk 86 crore," said an official.

The Daily Star in a series of articles has exposed the trickery of Harbin in showing cost savings in connivance with the PDB by omitting spare parts and inflating civil construction costs.

But since the early May "clearance" of the project, new developments only reinforce the allegation of foul play in tenders won by Harbin. The alliance government had awarded contracts for four power projects in five years --three to Harbin and one to scamster Obaidul Karim's BON Consortium.

Harbin's local agent Nirman International's Chairman Khadija Islam on May 9 filed an extortion case with Gulshan Police Station against Giasuddin Al Mamun, business partner and close friend of BNP leader Tarique Rahman, in connection with the Tongi 80 MW power project tender. Khadija said Mamun had taken Tk 5 crore for final release of work order that was awarded to Harbin in 2002.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Commission has already initiated investigation concerning the PDB, Harbin, and consulting firm ECBL for alleged corruption and irregularities in Tongi power project.

"This only proves that Harbin bagged its subsequent contracts through corruption," noted a source. "Should Bangladesh sign a deal with a company that resorts to corruption and gives substandard performance? Shall we follow a double standard where one government agency would blacklist a company while another agency would sign a fresh deal with the same company?" he questioned.

"The PDB should think twice before signing a deal with such a dubious company that is actually a power machinery supplier, and not a power plant builder," he added.