Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has called for exemplary punishment for people involved in irregularities in the listing of beneficiaries of government-allocated cash aid during the Covid-19 crisis in the country.
TIB urged the authorities to publish the full list on the website to ensure that the aid reached the hands of the real underprivileged and disadvantaged people of the country, according to a TIB statement issued to the media on Saturday.
The organization expressed its discontent about the list of recipients of cash aid, which includes the names of well-to-do relatives of many wealthy and powerful public representatives.
TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman said the use of the same mobile number against the names of 200 beneficiaries published in various media reports could never be an unintentional mistake.
He said: “The people of this country are going through challenging times. The underprivileged people are most at risk. The Prime Minister's initiative to provide cash aid to these people who are out of all kinds of social security programs at this critical time is to be applauded. However, irregularities in the preparation of the list and incompetence and lack of coordination at the local level are going to call the whole process into question, which is not wanted at all.”
He also said although the Prime Minister’s Office had stated that beneficiaries would be paid after a matching of their mobile numbers with their national identity card numbers, a move which had created optimism, it was still not enough.
TIB also expressed concern over the authorities’ not disclosing the investigation report on the N-95 mask supply scam and lack of action. TIB called for immediate accountability of those involved in the incident.
Dr Iftekharuzzaman said it was concerning that the Health and Family Welfare Minister had not seen the investigation report prepared by his own ministry.
Had the government taken exemplary measures in dealing with every corruption and irregularity case coming to the fore earlier, including the mask scandal, it might not have had to face so many unpleasant incidents, the statement said.
