Corruption allegations about renovation work of Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in the capital remain ignored despite repeated whistle blowing for the last five years.
Rather, the whistle blowers were removed from the board or management body of the five star hotel.
Corruption in the hotel's renovation work was first exposed by a media report in 2007. It was alleged that Southeast Asia Technology Co Ltd (SEATEC) of Thailand, one of the consultancy firms for the work, did not submit designs in time but drew money for the work that remains unfinished.
Later, three committees were formed to unearth the facts but none of them completed probe letting the consultant of the project and contractors off the hook.
Some board members have recently raised allegations of irregularities against SEATEC in the Tk 136 crore project.
A board member, who brought corruption allegation, was removed from the board on September 14 this year.
Anwar Rashid, a member of the board, alleged that his removal was linked to the demand for proper investigation into the allegations.
He was in a five-member probe committee formed in August this year to dig out facts about corruption in renovation work.
Rashid on October 3 submitted a letter to the parliamentary standing committee on civil aviation and tourism ministry, bringing corruption allegations against consultancy firm SEATEC.
In the letter, he said the board members at a meeting asked both SEATEC and Hotels International Ltd (HIL), which owns Sonargaon Hotel, to produce the designs of renovation work but they failed to show those.
The members also doubted whether SEATEC has taken permission from Bangladesh government to operate here, read the letter.
Moinuddin Khan Badal, member of the parliamentary body, told The Daily Star on Thursday, "We have received the allegations and shall look into it soon."
According to HIL, it incurred huge losses in 2007 because of corruption done in the hotel's renovation work.
HIL statistics show that the hotel's pre-tax profit was Tk 135 million in 2006, which came down to Tk 7 million in 2007 following the delay in renovation work.
A consortium led by SEATEC had been given the job of consultancy and supervising the project in 2005.
The other components of the consortium are Wimberly Allison Tong and Goo (WATG) of Singapore and Engineering Consultants and Associates Ltd, Engineers and Consultants Bangladesh Ltd, and Divine Associates Ltd of Bangladesh.
SEATEC was responsible for assigning contractors for renovation work. Orion Group's sister concern Accom Engineering Ltd was awarded the contract of the hotel's renovation work in October 2005.
Both board members and the contractors alleged that SEATEC gave flawed designs to the contractors after expiry of the deadline for submission.
Accom Engineering Ltd was supposed to finish the job by January 2007 but it failed to do so. Its contract with the HIL was cancelled at the end of 2007 following allegation of substandard work and delaying the project's implementation.
Later, the HIL management did some renovation work to run the hotel.
Only 30 percent of the renovation work including that on the third and fourth floors, health club, and swimming pool were completed by December 2008.
But SEATEC has already got Tk 7 crore of its fees of Tk 12 crore from HIL.
Renovation work on the second and fifth to eighth floors, lobby and ballrooms remained unfinished, said HIL.
In August 2009, the HIL board formed a probe committee to look into the allegations about renovation work.
Meantime, Accom Engineering Ltd went to an arbitration court claiming compensations from HIL. The company alleged that the project was delayed, as SEATEC did not provide it with designs and specifications in time.
Salman Karim, managing director of Orion Group, said, "We received most designs about 10 to 14 months after the project was launched."
"We even received wrong specifications of many interior products," he said.
Solaiman Ahmed, managing director of HIL, said the matter is now under investigation and the facts will come out once the probe is completed.
However, new consultants should be appointed for the project, he said.
Talking to The Daily Star, SEATEC's local agent Abdul Matin claimed that the company provided the contractor with all required designs.
"But the contractor did not complete the job," said Matin.
The official also claimed that SEATEC didn't need to take any permission to work as a consultancy firm for this project as per the tender requirements.
He said the company has demanded compensation from the HIL for "the losses it incurred due to delay in the project's implementation."
HIL officials said they have paid Tk 10 crore to Accom Engineering Ltd.
