Finance Minister AMA Muhith has rejected allegations against him of seeking allocations from the Janata Bank’s CSR fund to organise a boat race in the haors of Sunamganj.
Muhith made the remark to reporters yesterday following a meeting at the secretariat on raising multi-level funds for arranging cultural and sporting events across the country.
At a seminar on Monday, outgoing Janata Bank Chairman Abul Barkat claimed that the finance minister had requested allocation from Janata Bank’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) fund to organise a boat race. The Janata Bank CSR fund was suspended when the request was denied, the outgoing chairman also alleged on his final day at office. However, he added that the bank would still be able to disburse Tk10 crore from the CSR fund.
However, Muhith said: “I have recommended a number of appeals, but I can recall that I had not recommended a request for funds for such type of an appeal like a boat race.”
Frustration stemming from not being renewed as the Janata Bank chairman had led Barkat to make the allegations, claimed the finance minister.
The Awami League has many “giant intellectuals,” Muhith said, adding that the party would not look after only a single individual for their whole life. Abul Barkat’s stay as the Janata Bank chairman for the past five years had been enough for him, the minister claimed.
Claiming that Janata Bank’s financial situation had deteriorated since Awami League came to power in its previous tenure in 2009, Muhith said the bank’s outgoing board of directors was responsible for the rise in capital deficit and the rate of loan default.
