‘Govt may now hold WB to account’

Iftekharuzzaman responded saying: “It comes as a good news for Bangladesh and a source of relief for the government.” “However, the way the verdict has been justified by the Canadian Court reaffirms a key concern of TIB from the day the allegation of conspiracy of corruption was brought by the World Bank. “The court clearly indicates that the Bank’s allegations were based on ‘speculation, gossip and rumour’, which have not been considered credible. “The question that WB has never replied, and should now be asked again, is why did they withdraw funding to the project before the investigations of allegations, now proven baseless, were exhausted and were proven either way. “Why did they chop off the head for headache? Was their any motive other than the allegations of corruption conspiracy? “Moreover, as the Bank has used Padma bridge project to showcase their so-called zero tolerance of corruption, the question it must be asked is whether they can claim all projects being funded worldwide including those in Bangladesh, specially the ones they came in a big way since Bangladesh started implementing Padma Bridge on its own, to be free of any corruption risk or of corruption conspiracy? “The government as an aggrieved party may consider seeking answer to such questions to the Bank and hold it to account. No one can be above accountability,” he added.