A Dhaka judge has issued an arrest warrant against a deceased former managing director and chief executive of Biman Bangladesh Airlines (BG, Dhaka), the Bangladeshi newspaper The Business Standard reported.
Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Zakir Hossain Galib issued the warrant against Kevin John Steele during a November 24, 2024, court hearing. It appears he was unaware that Steele suffered a heart attack and died in July while watching cricket in Antigua.
Steele was among nine individuals against whom the judge issued arrest warrants during the hearing connected with a now-notorious lease deal between Biman Bangladesh and EgyptAir (MS, Cairo International). In the same hearing, the judge remanded four former and one current Biman official in custody on corruption charges after they surrendered to the court earlier that day.
Now sweating it out in a Dhaka prison cell after Galib rejected their bail applications are former principal engineer Shahid Uddin Mohammad Hanif; former engineer officer Zahid Hossain; former deputy chief engineer Muhammad Shahjahan; former deputy chief engineer Shafikul Alam Siddique; and principal systems engineer Sharif Ruhul Quddus.
The men are among multiple individuals named in a February 2023 charge sheet filed by Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission. That agency alleges the individuals were party to a "mismanaged" deal involving the lease of two B777-200ERs from EgyptAir in 2014. A flawed lease agreement and problems with the aircraft later cost Biman and, by default, Bangladeshi taxpayers, BDT11.64 billion takas (USD97.5 million). Since the initial February 2023 indictment, 14 individuals have been acquitted and seven new names added to the charge list.
ch-aviation does not say any of the charged individuals committed any offences, only that they are now involved in court proceedings in connection with the lease.
Apart from Biman, Steele had leadership roles in several other carriers, including British Airways, Etihad Airways, and Arik Air. He resigned from Biman for health reasons after being recruited to stabilise operations and restore the airline to profitability. However, at the time of his resignation, local news outlets reported on his run-ins with the government-appointed board of directors over matters such as appointing certain general sales agents and unspecified aircraft lease deals.
The botched lease deal has been the subject of several inquiries in recent years, including one by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, and later one from the Anti-Corruption Commission.
