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Diplomatic fund siphoning

Staff, their relatives at foreign missions squander tax payers' money to buy gifts or air tickets

Rafiq Hasan
Misappropriation of public fund is rife at Bangladesh missions abroad where top diplomats down to general employees do not hesitate to spend money like water to advance their personal ends, auditors said.
The diplomats buy gifts, their
relatives' air tickets, enjoy additional allowances and perks, pay puffed-up communications and utility bills and damages -- all from the taxpayers' money, they added.
A recent audit on accounts revealed that officials at 20 Bangladesh missions abroad gobbled up an additional amount of Tk 37.21 lakh from 1996-1998
period.
The auditors found the ambassador of a Middle Eastern country buying gifts for an outgoing envoy of a third country, flouting relevant rules.
He spent $11,014.84 -- equivalent to Tk 4,75,841.08 -- from the embassy fund to buy the gifts what should have been purchased with
funds raised from contributions of embassy staff.
In another case, a diplomat at Brasilia mission, spent Tk 1.25 lakh to pay for his son's airfare.
The foreign ministry had approved fare for one son, but he spent an additional US$3,118 for another.
Auditors found that mission officials also misused public fund to pay for their children's inflated educational expenditure and household damages and enjoyed additional allowances, incentive bonus and day and travel allowances beyond allocations.
They also foot puffed-up power, water and telephone bills and premiums for health insurance.
The audit reports pointed out the involvement of all sections of mission staff in the misappropriation and wastage of fund.
The embassies in Geneva and Rabat paid an additional Tk 5.40 lakh for disposing of garbage and the mission at Mascot wasted Tk 4.75 lakh on gifts.
The missions at Ankara, Mascot, Brasilia, Geneva and Kolkata took an additional Tk 3.43 lakh in airfares.
In Geneva, Rome, New Delhi and Kolkata, Tk 3.24 lakh was sucked in the name of education allowances of staff's children.
The embassies in Riyadh and Bonn lavished an additional amount of Tk 34, 061 to buy drinking water.
To pay unlawfully health insurance premiums, the Geneva office inflicted a financial loss of Tk
32,373.
The missions in Riyadh, Islamabad, New Delhi and Kolkata bought furniture and a staff car without approval, the auditors said.
Foreign ministry officials declined to comment on the audit reports.
"As I have not seen the reports, I cannot make any comment," said Zahirul Huq, director general of the external publicity wing.