Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) officials resorted to forgery and collusion again to purchase mosquito insecticides worth Tk10.50 crore and awarded work orders to Genetica Industries Limited which submitted invalid documents.

Besides, the DNCC officials extended undue facilities to the company by giving work orders under direct procurement method to make it look qualified for open tenders.

With the blessings of the DNCC officials, Genetica supplied larvicide worth over Tk10.56 crore in four phases.

The company supplied 840 kg of larvicide at Tk11,760 per kg, 2,000 kg at Tk16,298 per kg, and 3,000 kg at Tk21,068 per kg over two years.

DNCC promoted Genetica thorough direct procurement

According to documents, the DNCC awarded work orders to Genetica Industries Limited owned by Ashmita Erad Ali in four phases.

The first work order was given to the company on 22 June 2022 for supplying 420 kg Mosquiton Larvicide (0.12p) Novaluron Insecticide at Tk49,39,200 on the basis of a proposal made by the company.

On 10 May and 15 June in 2022, the DNCC Health Department sent two requisition letters to its Store and Purchase Department asking to supply 420 kg Mosquiton Larvicide (0.12p) on an emergency basis.

On 15 June 2022, the Genetica Industries Ltd submitted their proposal saying they could supply Mosquiton Larvicide (0.12p) Novaluron Insecticide, by importing it through Russell IPM Bangladesh Ltd, at Tk11,760 per kg which is Tk2,000 more than the price quoted by previous supplier Tak International.

On 16 June 2022, three companies including Medina Indenting Limited owned by Hakim Ali, father-in-law of Ashmita, also submitted price quotations for the same procurement.

None of the three companies were pesticide suppliers. Medina Indenting Ltd used its address as Suite 88, Hotel Agrabad, Chattogram which was ridiculous. Its Dhaka office address is house 25, road 4, Block F, Banani – the address of Genetica Industries. The price quotation of Medina Indenting Ltd was also higher than Genetica – Tk11,950 per kg.

The price quotations of other companies were also higher than Genetica’s proposed price. Bengal Enterprise proposed Tk11,920 and Jesco Solution proposed Tk12,000 per kg for the procurement.

This correspondent talked to the proprietors of the two companies and visited the Bengal Enterprise’ office.

The Daily Sun found that Jesco Solution is a security service company based in Chattogram and Bengal Enterprise is a power plant company in Dhaka. None of them have previous experience of supplying pesticides.

The concerned DNCC officials could not give satisfactory explanations when asked how they came to know about those companies, why they thought they could supply insecticides, and why they invited price quotations for the product from them.

Relevant sources said the DNCC officials might have had invited quotations from Bengal Enterprise and Jesco Solution to make Genetica’s proposal look reasonable.

On 22 and 27 June 2022, the DNCC Store and Purchase Department issued two work orders – each for supplying 420 kg of larvicide at Tk49,39,200 – to Genetica as it appeared the lowest bidder.

Tender qualification criteria set to match Genetica’s experience

The DNCC on 30 May 2023 issued a tender notice, ID 841133, for collecting 2,000 kg Mosquiton Larvicide (0.12p) Novaluron Insecticide.

The tender’s data sheet said the bidder had to satisfactorily have completed supply of similar goods under at least two contracts involving minimum Tk95 lakh in the previous three years, and have minimum supply capacity of 750 kg Mosquiton Larvicide in the same period.

The bidders’ qualification requirements for the tender were apparently set to closely match with the work experience Genetica Industries gathered through the previous work orders under the direct procurement by the DNCC.

Finally, Genetica was awarded the contract worth Tk3.25 crore on 5 July 2023.

On 30 November in 2023, the DNCC floated another tender, ID number 917508, for supplying 3,000 kg Mosquiton Larvicide (0.8p) Novaluron Insecticide.

In the tender, they said that the supplier must have experience of supplying the similar goods and related services under two contracts involving minimum Tk3 crore, and have minimum capacity (experience) to supply 1,500 kg Novaluron larvicide in tablet form (0.12P/0.8P) over three years.

This time also the bidder’s required qualifications closely reflected the experience Genetica gathered through previous DNCC contracts.

Submitting invalid docs and family collusion

According to documents, three companies participated in the tender for supplying 2,000 kg Mosquiton (0.12P).

Among the three companies, one was Genetica owned by Ashmita. Another was Medina Indenting Limited owned by her father-in-law Hakim Ali, a businessman in Chattogram. The third company was Easel Architects and Engineering.

Experts said that this kind of participation is called a “collusive practice” and it is done to control the price of a product in tender.

Besides, Genetica’s importer Russell IMP Bangladesh’s licence for importing Mosquiton 0.12p became invalid on 5 April 2023 as the company did not renew it on time.

However, Genetica submitted an authorisation letter, dated 15 June 2023, of Russell IMP Bangladesh Ltd as warranty for the product to secure the DNCC contract.

The DNCC’s tender evaluation committee did not hold Genetica accountable for submitting the invalid document.

However, the 2000 kg Mosquiton 0.12p was supplied to the DNCC on 9 July. The label of the product said that it was manufactured in June 2023 and it was handed over in July. But it was still unclear how it was imported from the UK.

The anomalies do not end here. The DNCC again invited a tender, ID number 917508 , on 30 November 2023 for supplying 3,000 kg Mosquiton Larvicide (0.8p) Novaluron Insecticide. The opening date was 31 December 2023. But during the period no company of Bangladesh had the licence to import the Mosquiton Larvicide (0.8p).

The General Contract Condition 33.3 of the tender said that in order to assure that manufacturing defects shall be corrected by the supplier.

Warranty certificate for the products was required to be included in the tender documents but it was seen that Genetica Industries Limited issued the certificate on 10 June 2024, after supplying the products.

Asked about the import of Mosquiton 0.12p by Russell IPM Bangladesh Ltd, its director Shofiqul Akther said they got the product imported from an air courier company as they did not have their own licence for importing it.

Talking to the Daily Sun recently, managing director of Genetica Industries Limited said they were facing trouble to supply the 2,000 kg Novaluron insecticide as the importer company was dilly-dallying.

She also said, “In July 2023, we applied to the Plant Protection Wing for an import licence of Mosquiton 0.8p but we attended the tender in December of that year. In May 2024, we got the import licence and delivered the product in two phases in June 2024.”

But a work order for supplying 3,000 kg pesticide issued by the Chief Store and Purchase Officer Ramendra Nath Biswas said it was issued on 28 February 2022 and asked the supplier to deliver the product by 28 April that year. But Genetica got the licence on 16 May 2022.

Asked about the matter, Ramendra Nath Biswas said he did nothing wrong to the best of his knowledge and he did not know Genetica and others who supply this kind of pesticide.

Asked if the insecticide was bought in two contracts and that too in direct procurement methods purposefully, he said, “I did not know anyone of the Genetica company earlier. The direct procurement method instead of open tender method was followed for avoiding legal issues and collecting the product quickly.”

But documents say that Ramendera Nath, his assistant store officer Rahat Al Faysal and former chief health officer Brig Gen (Retd) Zobadiur Rahman and two others were served show cause notices over forgery in importing BTI pesticide on 21 August 2023.

Talking to the Daily Sun on 8 September the former DNCC chief health officer, also the chairperson of the technical evaluation committee of the tenders, Brig Gen (Retd) Zobadiur Rahman said, “I do not know anything now. The chief store and purchase officer knows all. I cannot say anything more about it now.”