The BGMEA has rejected the TIB’s recent report on the country’s apparel sector, saying the anti-graft watchdog had prepared an ill-motivated report based only on the interviews of just 74 people.
“The TIB’s report on RMG sector about corruption is totally baseless, intentional, false and ill-motivated, and we strongly reject the findings,” president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Siddiqur Rahman, told reporters at a press conference in the BGMEA headquarters yesterday.
Siddiqur said Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) interviewed only 74 stakeholders from the ready-made garment sector but raised questions about the integrity of all the people linked with the sector by making generalised comments on tens of thousands of RMG workers, entrepreneurs and buyers.
On Thursday, the TIB released a report on the apparel industry that found irregularities and corruption in 16 stages from order placement to shipment, where foreign buyers were also responsible for corruption and malpractice to reap undue advantage by pressuring Bangladeshi ready-made garment suppliers.
The report’s findings about unauthorised subcontracting were not true as such a process was done with the consent of buyers and in a compliant factory, said Siddiqur. He added that any manufacturer found doing unauthorised subcontracting would be blacklisted by retailers.
The BGMEA chief admitted that there might be some bad buyers in the sector, but added that the TIB could not make a report based on one or two incidents.
He said it was unexpected to see such a report from the TIB at a time when the RMG sector was turning around from the bad situation after the Tazreen Fashion fire and Rana Plaza collapse, and had exceeded its export target in the first half of the current fiscal year.
Such a sensitive issue would hurt talks during the second review of Sustainability Compact in Dhaka on January 28, Siddiqur said.
Commenting on allegations of selling imported raw materials for the export-oriented RMG sector, he said as there were now cheap fabrics and accessories in the country due to the expansion of apparel industry, no one would sell their products at prices lower than the imported price.
He also rejected allegations of giving bribe to buy substandard products, saying such claims were totally illogical as the country was exporting international-standard apparel products.
Replying to a question, the chief of the apex trade body said the TIB did not contact them regarding the research, but the BGMEA would accept any positive or constructive directive for the sector.
The qualitative study on “How to Prevent Corruption in The Ready made Garment Sector: Scenarios from Bangladesh” was the first ever report 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.