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It's shameful

Muhith tells Sangsad a White Paper will be published on financial sector scams; details of defence budget sought

Staff Correspondent
A White Paper on various frauds in the banking sector, including BASIC Bank, would be published through parliament sometime in the middle of the next fiscal year, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said in parliament yesterday.
"Scams in the financial sector are very shameful for us ... for my ministry it is a matter of regret,” Muhith said before the supplementary budget for the fiscal year 2013-14 was passed in parliament yesterday.
He said the White Paper would be presented in the House and it would provide guidelines to combat such issues.
Taking part in the discussion on the supplementary budget earlier, latiya Party lawmaker Kazi Feroz Rashid talked about scams in BASIC Bank, Hall-Mark group and the share market.
In response, the finance minister said, "I am sorry I did not have anything about this in my budget speech ... I did this on purpose." The government was not yet prepared for the reforms being considered now, he said.
After the finance minister's wrap-up speech, parliament passed a Tk 8,066-crore supplementary budget for additional spending by ministries and divisions for the outgoing fiscal year.
Among the 55 ministries and divisions, the highest allocation went to the home ministry, Tk 1,441 crore. The education ministry got Tk 1,193 crore, defence ministry Tk 705 crore, and science and technology ministry Tk 513 crore.
'EXPLAIN DEFENCE BUDGET'
Mayeen Uddin Khan Badal and Rustam Ali Farzai criticised successive finance ministers for not disclosing the details of defence budget.
The two lawmakers demanded the government explains the allocation ofTk 16,462 crore for the defence ministry in the proposed budget for 2014-15 fiscal.
Badal is a lawmaker from Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, a component of the Awami League-led ruling alliance, while Farazi is an independent MP.
Refuting their claims, LGRD Minister Syed Ashrafiil Islam, who is in charge of the defence ministry in parliamentary affairs, said previous military autocrats played hide and seek with allocating money for the defence ministry and they never revealed the exact amount of the allocation.
"But the present democratic government does not deserve this allegation. The budgetary allocation for the defence ministry is transparent," mentioned the minister.
About the lack of details of the defence budget, Muhith said it was a tradition not to say anything in details about the defence budget in the speech. The tradition began as power had been grabbed illegally time and again, he added. "This is not a healthy tradition."
The finance minister said the government had tried for the last five years to break with the tradition. There would be attempts to end the tradition during the tenure of this government, he said.
Speaking on the supplementary budget, Badal said, "It has become a taboo not to explain where and how the budgetary allocation for the defence ministry will be spent. This tradition has been followed since long. It should be stopped. It should be open to public."
The defence ministry has been allocated around 6.6 percent of the total budget, but there is no explanation where and how this money will be spent, he added.
"We want our defence to be strengthened. But the finance minister must explain how and where the allocated public money will be spent," insisted the legislator.
Echoing the opinion of Badal, Farazi demanded the government maintains transparency in budgetary allocation for the defence ministry.