Staff Reporter :
When Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed has termed the corruption report of Transparency International [TI] as baseless, the Finance Minister AMA Muhith accepted it as sad news despite enhancement of salaries of the government employees five years back.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith has apparently accepted the TI report also terming the Centre for Policy Dialogue [CPD] a ‘think-tank’. “It is not so easy to define the rise and fall of corruption index. However, it is a matter of great regret that corruption is still unabated though salary of government officials had increased about 62 per cent five years ago,” he said while visiting the re-construction site of Shaheed Minar in Sylhet on Thursday.
“They [TI and CPD] publish their own assessments, and these may not satisfy us. As, the corruption did not decrease, the income of common people must be increased to stop corruption,” the minister stated.
On the other hand, pointing to Wednesday’s TI report over rising corruption in Bangladesh, Tofail Ahmed has harshly criticized the TI, CPD and media owners.
“The TI and CPD are run by foreign fund. What is their base? Do they have any credibility? These organizations since their inception never uttered a positive word in favour of Bangladesh,” he said after attending a meeting with the German State Minister for Social Welfare Jorg Asmussen at the Secretariat in the city on Thursday.
He also alleged that organisations like CPD and TI just try to defame Bangladesh by focusing its negative side.
“Everything has two sides; both positive and negative. Bangladesh has come a long way [under Awami League rule]. The import, export, bank reserve and remittance of the country are increasing day by day. But, there are some organizations which only see our faults and highlight them before the world,” he said.
“Did not the assets of newspaper owners increased in the country? Did not the assets of their sons and daughters increased? Did it increase for the country’s politicians only? Didn’t the government done any good for the country?” The Minister asked also blaming media for giving priority on negative news.
Earlier on Wednesday, TI, the leading civil society organization fighting corruption worldwide, released its annual Corruption Perceptions Index-2014 which showed that corruption in Bangladesh has increased.
According to the report, Bangladesh is the 14th most corrupt country among 175 countries, which was 16th in 2013. Bangladesh scored 25 in a scale of 0-100, and has been ranked 145th from the top and 14th from below among 175 countries.
Meanwhile, claiming that the AL led government has plunged into corruption, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has called upon his party leaders and activists to prepare for another knock to oust the government.
“Bangladesh has proceeded towards corruption; it is indeed good news! There is no ground under the feet of the government. Now we need to make another knock to oust them,” he said while addressing a function at National Press Club organised by Bangladesh Kallyan Party, one of the allies of 20-party, to mark its seventh anniversary on Thursday.
Criticising the activities of Anti-Corruption Commission [ACC], Mirza Fakhrul further said the corruption watchdog is now working as a ‘B’ team of the government.
BNP Standing Committee member Abdul Moyeen Khan had also said the TI report proved that corruption rose in the country. “Graft is rising day by day as there is no transparency in the administration and the government. Corruption has always gone up during the tenure of AL government,” the BNP leader said.
ACC Commissioner M Shahabuddin Chuppu earlier had said the TI report didn’t reflect the actual situation. “The cases of Hall-Mark and Destiny scams, railway recruitment corruption and forgery of freedom fighter certificates were turned into success stories, as powerful people involved in the scams were brought to book,” he said on Wednesday.
“If considered from a practical perspective, the TI findings would not be acceptable,” he claimed.
