Bangladesh’s railway minister Suranjit Sengupta talks to the media after he resigned in Dhaka yesterday

Bangladesh’s railway minister resigned yesterday amid a graft scandal in which his personal secretary and two officials were found with 7mn taka ($86,000) in cash.
Suranjit Sengupta denied accusations that the money was bribes from applicants seeking jobs on the state-run Bangladesh Railway, but he said he was resigning to “bolster
democracy”.
On taking office as railway minister in December, the outspoken member of the ruling Awami League vowed to catch the “black cat” of corruption and mismanagement at the loss-making Bangladesh
Railway.
Authorities postponed the recruitment process for more than 7,000 jobs at Bangladesh Railway and suspended the officials allegedly involved in the graft.
Sengupta, a veteran politician and lawyer, told a press conference that his decision would allow a full probe into the
allegations.
“I am stepping down even though I was not involved in the incident. A lot of people think if I stay at the helm of the ministry, the investigation could be influenced,” he said.
His resignation came after his secretary and two officials were briefly detained last week at a paramilitary camp in Dhaka with the cash, which they had in a minibus.
The three told local media they were heading to Sengupta’s house with the money.
The Anti-Corruption Commission began an investigation.
The incident has embarrassed the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who summoned Sengupta to her office on Sunday after returning from a visit to Turkey.
Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and civil society groups had demanded his resignation. “I have resigned giving the countrymen and the civil society a sense of relief,” Sengupta said.
Sengupta yesterday said he fired his APS Omar Faruq while the ministry suspended railway general manager Yusuf Ali Mridha and divisional commandant of its security force Enamul Huq on the basis of their statements before an investigation
committee.
Mridha and Haque have been asked not leave Dhaka until further orders.
Earlier, they appeared before an investigation committee of the ministry as summoned for their statements while Faruque apparently preferred to ignore the summon as he did not appear for the committee headed by a joint secretary.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Bank officials said they were set to issue a directive asking all commercial banks to freeze Faruque’s bank accounts and examine the accounts of the two others.
The government has fallen in popularity in recent months due to soaring food prices, a cut in energy subsidies and a series of graft allegations.
Bangladesh’s next national election is due to be held by
early 2014. Agencies