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Govt orders anti-corruption steps against two NGOs

SHAMEEM MAHMUD
The government is going to take legal actions against two out of five non-government organisations (NGO) foreign funds of which have been blocked for about two years allegedly for 'misusing funds' and having 'political links'.
"Our investigation found out that Bangladesh Nari Pragoti Sangha (BNPS) and PRIP Trust were at fault of misappropriating foreign funds. So, we have already directed related police stations to file corruption cases against the organisations," said Shahjahan Majumder, director general (DG) of the NGO Affairs Bureau under the Prime Minister's Office.
The Proshika, International Voluntary Services (IVS) and Centre for Development Services (CDS) are the three other NGOs that came under government investigation. The NGO bureau has decided to probe Proshika activities further and let CDS off the hook. It is still undecided how the IVS affair will be dealt with.
Top executives of the NGOs in question meanwhile said the government was up for harassing them in a bid to ruin their organisations.
Aroma Dutt, executive director of the blacklisted PRIP Trust, said: "We and our donors are totally in the dark about the finds of the investigation. The finds should be made
public before taking any action."
"If any irregularity was found in the probe report, the government should have notified me and shared the finds with our donors," she said.
The probe began in November 2001, and the NGO bureau sent a letter at the end of 2002 in which it did not mention anything about irregularities.
A top executive of the BNPS said they received a show cause notice early this year but it bore no mention of irregularities.
"After a 10-month investigation, the NGO bureau sent a show cause notice on January 19. We sent a reply on February 2 in our defence," he said.
In 2001, the government blocked all foreign funds of the five organisations and ordered probes into the allegations of funds misuse and links with some political parties.
Defending the government position, the DG of the NGO bureau said, "We have no reason to harass any organisation. Rather, we appreciate their efforts in development programmes. There is no politics in it."
The bar on funds forced the NGOs to cut down their programmes on literacy, poverty alleviation, women empowerment and others, sources in the sector said.
Majumder however said such investigations by the bureau are not unusual. "It can only ensure transparency in the sector. There are about 1,800 NGOs registered with the bureau, and a few of them were pun-ishedin the past."
The bureau could not take any decision on the IVS as it is an international NGO based in the US. "Through the Bangladesh mission in Washington, we tried to communicate with its mother organisation. But we found out that the IVS, Washington no longer existed."
The bureau excused the CDS after it acknowledged its 'fault' and assured not to repeat it in future. The funds of the CDS would be released shortly, sources said.
There is no let-up for Proshika,
which could not use the held-up funds of Tk 324 crore for the project, "Towards a Poverty-free Society". The five-year programme started in 1999 and was supposed to end in June next year.
The bureau has decided to widen its probe into the Proshika affairs after finding 'gross violations' of the NGO related rules in the project, Majumder said.
"The second phase of investigation is going on now and it would end by October 31," he said.
A top official of the leading NGO said the government did not notify them about the finds in the first phase of investigation that started in January and ran until May 2002.
The tenure of the second phase of investigation has already been extended thrice, he said.