Padma Bridge Graft Scandal

Padma Bridge Scandal is a political scandal in Bangladesh that involved the ruling Bangladesh Awami League's government who allegedly sought a large amount money from the Canadian construction company SNC-Lavalin in exchange for awarding them the construction contract. However, the corruption allegations were subsequently found to be false and without merit and the Canadian Court subsequently dismissed the case.

As a result of the allegations, The World Bank pulled out of a project to build Bangladesh's largest bridge, citing corruption concerns, cancelling a $1.2bn (£764m) credit for the 6 km-long (four miles) road-rail bridge over the Padma River.

The World Bank has published detailed statement about their allegation of corruption relating to Padma Bridge and subsequent pulling out from the financing of the project. They have also published a "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQ) to better explain their position and activities.

The World Bank alleged that there had been a 'conspiracy' plotted to stage a high level corruption in the project:

The World Bank has credible evidence corroborated by a variety of sources which points to a high-level corruption conspiracy among Bangladeshi government officials, SNC Lavalin executives, and private individuals in connection with the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project.

They have provided the Bangladeshi government with evidences of corruption-plot and stated that they couldn't advance forward with the loan if no action was taken:

To be willing to go forward with the alternative turnkey-style approach, we sought the following actions: (i) place all public officials suspected of involvement in the corruption scheme on leave from Government employment until the investigation is completed; (ii) appoint a special inquiry team within the ACC to handle the investigation, and (iii) agree to provide full and adequate access to all investigative information to a panel appointed by the World Bank composed of internationally recognized experts so that the panel can give guidance to the lenders on the progress, adequacy, and fairness of the investigation. We worked extensively with the Government and the ACC to ensure that all actions requested were fully aligned with Bangladeshi laws and procedures.

They also said that they sent a delegation to the Government of Bangladesh to seek explanation from them but the explanation from the Bangladeshi side was unsatisfactory:

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Wikipedia