A Canadian senator is being investigated on allegations that he lobbied Bangladesh government members on behalf of Niko Resources after travelling here on a special passport reserved for federal officials.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have been investigating Niko Resources' natural-gas operation in Bangladesh for nearly four years, the Globe and Mail said.
On Friday, the company agreed to pay a fine of $9.5-million after pleading guilty to bribing BNP state minister for energy and mineral resources AKM Mosharraf Hossain by providing him with a luxury SUV as well as a paid trip to Calgary and New York.
What did not emerge in court, however, is that the police are probing Liberal Senator Mac Harb, a former member of parliament for Ottawa Centre, the Canadian newspaper said.
The police allege his travels to Bangladesh were 'for a purpose other than the public good.' Harb has not been charged with a crime, the Toronto-based paper added.
In a statement, Niko said it retained Harb only in a personal capacity, and 'not as a Senator.' The company said it paid him $65,000 for work done between September, 2005 and July, 2006, according to the newspaper.
'The company inquired and was advised by Harb that he had obtained all of the necessary approvals from the Senate Ethics Committee to be able to carry out this engagement,' the company's statement said.
Canadian senators, according to the Globe and Mail, are free to take outside employment, sometimes as directors of companies or with law firms, but they are forbidden from trading on their public position for personal gain.
The Criminal Code also prohibits someone from using public office for personal gain.
On one of Harb's last trips to Bangladesh, the then Canadian high commissioner to Bangladesh was so infuriated that she confronted him at his hotel.
Media reports said she told investigators that she was 'not happy' that Harb 'had actually met with the [Bangladeshi] minister of foreign affairs at his home, at night without me, and without me being aware of the meeting.'
The former high commissioner speculated to the police that Harb had been enlisted by the company because he was 'known to the players, respected and had influence.'
Niko officials also told Federal Court in Calgary on Friday that the firm bribed the minister in 2005 following explosions at the Niko drilling site at Magurchhara in Moulvibazar.
The bribes were paid to Mosharraf when he was to determine what compensation should be paid to villagers.
At the time, Niko said it had provided the luxury SUV to its partner in Bangladesh, the state-owned BAPEX, and denied having any knowledge about the vehicle's ultimate destination.
In January 2005, as Niko started drilling a gas well in Tengratila, it accidentally set off an explosion that blew up the field. The impact of the disaster on local schools and villagers and the environmental damage is still evident.
No one was killed, but the fires destroyed billions of cubic feet of gas and forced thousands to evacuate.
Then, in June 2005, as Niko was trying to contain the first blowout, it set off another explosion. The accidents caused massive protests around the country.
According to an agreed statement of facts, a new Toyota Land Cruiser, purchased by Niko, was delivered to his house.
Mosharraf and his family also travelled to Calgary for the 2005 Gas and Oil Expo event and to New York to visit family at the expense of Niko, the statement says.
Hossain was fired when the transactions were revealed in Bangladesh a short time later.
Niko operates mostly in India and Bangladesh but also explores and produces natural gas and oil in Pakistan, Kurdistan, Indonesia, Trinidad and Madagascar.
Source : New Age
