The Bangladesh government team investigating alleged fraud at Biman Bangladesh Airline's cargo operations in Dubai and the Northern Emirates has unearthed corruption involving some of its officials and the Darwish Murad Clearing and Shipping Services (DMCSS), a freight operator, according to official sources.
According to their findings, DMCSS has been forging airwaybills, shipping excess cargo on each consignment depriving the airline of millions of dirhams. In some cases, discrepancies have been as much as six tonnes per consignment.
Biman carries about 80 tonnes of cargo to Bangla-desh from Dubai each month. About 80 to 90 per cent of this is handled by DMCSS.
The scam operators have been taking advantage of the manual system of complex paperwork, the lack of co-ordination and cross verification throughout Biman's network, M. Shahab Ullah, joint secretary in Bangladeshs Ministry of Civil Aviation, told Gulf News.
"After a week-long investigation involving interviews with our officials, general sales agents and examining papers, documents, invoices and letters, we have found massive irregularities in our cargo operations in Dubai and the Northern Emirates," he said.
Ullah led a three-member investigating team that included M. Nurus Salam, Biman's deputy general manager for internal audit, and Aftab Uddin, Biman's commercial officer for cargo.
"From December 2003 to May 2004," Ullah said, "Biman has been deprived of Dh426,000 by DMCSS, which has been given a free hand to handle Biman's cargo. We have already recovered Dh366,900.
"DMCSS, which is run by E.K. Hamza, a non-resident Indian, has been taking advantage of the privileges and special treatment extended to him by some of Biman's officials, allegedly in exchange for cash and favours. He has been forging Biman's airwaybills and paying the carrier much less than the actual cargo carried."
Legal measures have been sought by one of Biman's general sales agents (GSA) to bring the culprits to book, and measures are under way to straighten things out in Biman's organisation.Biman's GSAs are Dnata for Dubai, Transworld Travels (TAT) in Sharjah and Al Ahli Travels in Ajman.
Though DMCSS does not represent Biman in any of these emirates, it has been given a free ride to control Biman's cargo and its daily load, bypassing the established GSAs, officials said.
According to documents obtained by Gulf News, some of Biman's airwaybills bearing the same number shows differing billable weights charged to the same customer.
However, copies of the same document bearing the same airwaybill number also bear different cargo operators' names - a practice alien to the industry.
One of the airwaybills in question, bearing the number 997-8897 8897, and charged to Biman Flight Catering Centre, shows a consignment of 537 kg involving six items were handled by DMCSS.
Another copy of the same airwaybill dated May 18, 2004, shows that DMCSS handled 2,975 kg involving six items for the same client. On these separate documents, the amount charged to the same customer was Dh10,068.75 and Dh55.781.25 respectively by weight.
"Some of the letters issued on behalf of Biman and signed by competent officials also confirm that DMCSS has been given special rates bypassing GSAs. Most travel operators and cargo handlers have expressed dissatisfaction on the preferential treatment given to DMCSS," Ullah said.
Asked whether Biman employees could be involved, Ullah said: "It could not have been possible without inside involvement. We are also going to dig deep into similar operations across 26 outstations in Biman's worldwide network and implement new measures.
"In the meantime, we urge all customers to directly deal with our GSAs."
Gulf News
