The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has rejected Transparency International Bangladesh's (TIB) report on Bangladesh’s apparel terming it baseless, intentional, false and ill motivated.
The BGMEA came up with the immediate reaction to the report released on Thursday. A press conference was held at BGMEA office on Friday afternoon.
The TIB report on the apparel industry found irregularities and corruption in 16 stages from order placement to shipment, where foreign buyers were also found responsible for corruption and malpractice to reap undue advantage by pressuring Bangladeshi ready made garment suppliers.
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“TIB's report on RMG sector about corruption is totally baseless, intentional, false and ill motivated and we strongly rejects the findings,” BGMEA president Siddiqur Rahman said.
The TIB interviewed only 74 people from RMG stakeholders but made generalised comments on tens of thousands of RMG workers, entrepreneurs, buyers, that raised question about the integrity of the whole people linked with the sector, said Rahman.
The report talked about the unsurprised subcontracting, which is not true as it is done with the consent of buyers and in a compliant factory, said Rahman adding that if any manufacturer do unauthorised subcontracting it will be black listed by the retailers.
It is unexpected to have such a report from TIB, when RMG sector is turning around from the bad situation after the Tazreen Fashion fire and Rana Plaza building collapse, he went on.
The qualitative study on “How to Prevent Corruption in The Ready made Garment Sector: Scenarios from Bangladesh” is the first ever of its kind, jointly conducted by Transparency International’s Bangladesh and German chapters from November 2014 to April 2015.
The study was conducted based on interviews with buyers, buying house executives, garment factory owners, factory staff and workers, compliance auditors and inspectors, experts, merchandisers, shipping agents and bankers.