Biman suspends all promotion activities amid corruption allegations

The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism has temporarily suspended all promotion activities at Biman Bangladesh Airlines following allegations of irregularities and corruption in the airline's promotion process. It has ordered that all recently taken promotion-related activities be halted until the investigation into the allegations is completed.

Ministry sources said the decision was taken after allegations of irregularities, administrative disorder, and corruption surfaced in the promotion process within the airline's Engineering department. The complaint was filed by Engineer Abu Sayed, an official of Biman's Engineering department.

A letter signed by the ministry's Senior Assistant Secretary Sharmin Akter on August 3 stated that a committee would be formed to investigate the complaint, and that all of Biman Bangladesh Airlines' recent promotion-related activities would remain suspended until the investigation report is submitted.

The complaint alleges that for a long time, an influential clique within the Engineering department has been exerting influence through irregular promotions and administrative malpractice. It claims that 15 approved posts were withdrawn from an important branch of the department and new promotion proposals were drawn up in violation of regulations. A meeting on this matter was reportedly held on June 28. It further alleges that reducing the approved workforce under the Civil Aviation Authority's Part-145 regulations could put operational safety and international standards compliance at risk.

The complaint further alleges that a syndicate is active in irregularly elevating several junior employees, recruited in late 2022, to Group-6 posts. It is claimed that around 3.1 million taka in illegal financial transactions took place through this process. It also raises allegations of promotion files for eight eligible engineers being held up for a long time, license allowances being withheld, and administrative irregularities against several officials.

The complaint further alleges various irregularities, including promoting juniors while depriving senior officials, completing promotions without mandatory interviews, artificially showing posts as vacant through transfers and later reinstating the same individuals to their previous posts, paying allowances without performing technical duties, showing different postings on paper, nepotism in contract-based recruitment, and paying salaries for posts that don't exist within the organizational structure.

Regarding the Printing and Publications department, the complaint states that several officials were promoted there in violation of rules, while officials senior to them were denied promotion. The complaint also mentions instances of multiple individuals being promoted to the same post. Biman Bangladesh Airlines officials said they have received the ministry's directive and that the matter is currently under investigation.

Regarding this, Biman's Acting General Manager of Public Relations, Muhammad Mohiuddin, said that as per the ministry's directive, all promotion-related activities will remain suspended until the investigation into the complaint is completed. Further decisions will be made based on the investigation's findings.