Unhelpful contention

Well, if we do not rely upon the media then the question naturally comes to one's mind as to whether we should look to the government press note or to the informal remarks of the Finance Minister himself for the correct information! Unfortunately, although we are hardly getting any official press note on the prevalent sleazes, there are no dearth of indulging ministerial commentaries, as if our government machinery is as neat as a new pin. One could of course subscribe to such ideas, provided the veteran Finance Minister could satisfactorily answer back the following questions which has direct relation to our assigned position as the most corrupt nation in the world:

1.After police department, there are reportedly most widespread corruptions in the departments like Taxation, Customs, Excise, VAT etc. Has there ever been any enquiry commission to look into such matters? Has the minister ever taken any initiative, so that the officials from the highest to the lowest ranks of the aforesaid departments including those of his ministry and the National Board of Revenue declare their assets and properties, as required under the government service rules? If so, how many corruption cases had so far been instituted against those who could not justify their earnings ?

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2.As one of the prominent chartered accountants of Bangladesh, the minister may be well aware that many of the industrial and trading establishments are not keeping their books of accounts properly and that there are countless incidences of corrupt practices including under-invoicing/over-invoicing, VAT /tax-evasions through tricky devices etc. Has the minister taken up any strategy to arrest such malpractices and add billions to the exchequer?

3.It is reported that the alleged bank-defaulters took away about Tk. 250 billion from the national exchequer. What steps have been taken by his Ministry to realize those amounts and why he is not recommending to the government for sterner legislations toward the recovery of the defaulted money? Would his ministry disclose as to whether many of the private bank owners are among the aforementioned bank-defaulters and if so, why the licence for such banks should not be called off?

4.Has the Ministry of Finance ever instituted any charge or proceedings against the bank managers who were allegedly involved in the aforesaid evasion process and thus squandered away or usurped the huge amount of public money?

5.The Ministry of Finance has significantly reduced the interest rates on all kinds of deposits in the banks including Defence Savings Certificate and various other deposit schemes in which generally the retired employees used to credit their life-time savings for a better return. Then why the lending rates of the banks, which are the highest even by South Asian standard, have not been proportionately reduced, causing thereby a faint economy with fat banks?

6.While the country is suffering profusely from economic inertia with continuously retarding foreign direct investment, what role the minister is playing to improve the situation? Is he helping us when he says that the western developed countries are more corrupt than us? Is it his style of inviting foreign direct investment for which the country is almost starving?

Hafeejul Alam is a management specialist.