Muhith takes a swipe at ex-WB chief Zoellick
Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday blasted Robert B Zoellick, a former president of the World Bank Group who peddled allegations of corruption in the Padma bridge project.
“He was a very bad man. He was worthless,” Muhith said at an event held at the headquarters of the National Board of Revenue in the capital.
On the last day of his job Zoellick cancelled the Padma bridge loan following allegations of corruption conspiracy in the project.
“The World Bank did not mention any exchange of money but it scrapped the loan nevertheless.”
Muhith's comments came at a programme organised by the National Board of Revenue to honour former communications minister Syed Abul Hossain and his family as the highest taxpayer of 2017.
He made the remarks while flanked by Hossain, Mashiur Rahman, economic affairs adviser of the prime minister, and Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, chairman of the NBR. Coincidently, the WB had brought allegations of corruption conspiracy against Hossain, Rahman and Bhuiyan.
Muhith himself was also embroiled in the corruption allegations, according to the finance minister.
“All four of us got caught up in the conspiracies of Zoellick,” he said, adding that the government did many things to please the Washington-based multilateral lender.
Muhith said he was happy to be able to honour Hossain. Bhuiyan said a proposal to honour Hossain as Kar Bahadur (Tax Icon) was sent to the finance minister two weeks ago.
Bhuiyan himself also suffered as he was sent to jail in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission. He was the secretary of the Bridges Division at the time. Later, the ACC cleared him.
“There was also misunderstanding in our media in the attempt to malign us. Everything has now gone because the allegations have been rejected by the Canadian court, which termed it fictitious and baseless,” he added.
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