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Saifur slams TIB report

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman yesterday rejected the just released Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) report on corruption, saying it was based on newspaper stories, most of which are allegations rather than facts.
"Most newspaper reports are mostly based on allegations, not facts," he said, bashing the TIB report, which portrayed a pitiable situation of corruption at different government departments.
Saifur was speaking at the opening of a 10-day training programme for bank officials organised by the Bangladesh Bank at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel.
Finance Secretary Zakir Ahmed
Khan, Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed, Deputy Governor Muhammad A Ali and managing directors of all commercial banks were present at the function.
"Such reports will seriously damage the country's image and ultimately hinder foreign investment," he observed.
The finance minister also came down heavily on those foreigners who "come here for a few days, participate in seminars and make general comments on corruption in Bangladesh".
Terming such people 'strangers', Saifur said mountainous corruption in their countries are often overlooked. He cited examples of recent graft charges against the New York Stock Exchange chairman and a European Commission officer.
"Bangladesh has several problems, but such comments are very insulting and humiliating for the country," Saifur said.
He also criticised local personnel working for foreign agencies for 'slurring the country's image'.
He informed the ceremony that International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director told (Saifur) during the IMF's Dubai meeting, he was amazed that 135 million people were living at such a small country like Bangladesh.
"This clearly indicates that Bangladesh's economy is doing well," Saifur quoted the IMF managing director as saying.
He also said some participants of the Dubai meeting told him that different reports show that economic condition of Bangladesh is
good but unfortunately reports in local newspapers do not reflect that.
Saifur said "we have enough talents and we need to capitalise on those to bolster our economy."
The finance minister also urged the bankers to create a post of financial controller for improving lending management.
A 24-member committee comprising representatives from nationalised commercial banks (NCBs), private commercial banks (PCBs) and foreign banks prepared a manual -- Managing Core Risks in Banking -- for the training to be conducted by Bangladesh Bank (BB).
The committee has identified five core risk areas in the banking sector that include credit, asset and liability, foreign exchange, internal control and compliance and money laundering.
Speaking at the ceremony BB Governor Fakhruddin Ahmed said the central bank would issue a circular later to all banks to use the manual as a guideline.
Terming the public-private partnership a good initiative, Finance Secretary Zakir Ahmed Khan hoped the manual would be beneficial for banks.
Explaining the reason for preparing the manual, Muhammad A Ali said the idea of taking up such project sprang from the observation that some banks operating in the same environment perform better than others.