MPs' Cars
NBR mulls JS monograms on doors
Staff Correspondent
To check the frequent misuse of the privilege of duty-free cars by lawmakers, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) is thinking of amending the relevant provision for the lawmakers with the privilege, sources said. "We are considering printing the monograms of the Jatiya Sangsad and NBR on the doors of the cars so that none but the lawmakers can use the cars imported duty free," a senior official of the NBR said yesterday. The lawmakers of the current parliament brought 275 luxury cars from abroad, costing the NBR over Tk 280 crore in tax exemption. Most of them sold the cars to businessmen for a profit of Tk 10 lakh to 25 lakh a car. Selling cars like BMW, Cadillac, Porsche, the lawmakers made at least Tk 50 crore during this parliament. For own use, they, however, seem to prefer low-cost cars. The Ershad government introduced the privilege of duty free-cars for the lawmakers and the present alliance government on August 22, 2005 added a new provision that says a lawmaker cannot import duty-free car unless at least two years' time is left in the tenure of parliament after their election. Due to the new provision, women lawmakers of the current parliament cannot import cars as they were elected when the parliament had less than two years to go.
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