PM raps Yunus over scrapping of Padma fund

Criticising the “role of Dr Muhammad Yunus” in the cancellation of World Bank's funding for the Padma Bridge project, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said she did not know whether people would try that renowned personality for his act.

Without mentioning the name of Nobel laureate Prof Yunus, she said some people, especially one, had “caused immense losses to the country by halting the World Bank's funding in the project only to cling on to the managing director's post of a bank”.

The PM was addressing a programme marking the National Jute Day-2017 at the Krishibid Institution, Bangladesh in the city. The Jute Day was observed on Monday.

Referring to the recent verdict of a Canadian court rejecting the allegation of corruption conspiracy in the project, Hasina said people's dignity and image would never be tarnished either by herself or by her family members.

“Many ill-attempts were made to implicate my family members and me [in the allegation]. I can't describe in words the extent of [mental] torture inflicted on my sister, son and daughter.

“By the grace of Almighty Allah, we'll definitely build the bridge and the country's image would be brightened through this,” she added.

The premier said the World Bank gave many suggestions, and reacted differently if those went unheeded.

Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu, State Minister for Textiles and Jute Mirza Azam and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Textiles and Jute Ministry Saber Hossain Chowdhury spoke at the programme, among other, with Textiles and Jute Minister Emaj Uddin Pramanik in the chair.

The Canadian court last month acquitted three business executives of charges that SNC-Lavalin Group Inc staff had planned to bribe Bangladeshi officials in a bid to win a $50 million contract to supervise the construction of Padma Bridge.

The three are former SNC-Lavalin vice-president (energy and infrastructure) Kevin Wallace, its another former vice-president (international development) Ramesh Shah and Bangladeshi-Canadian businessman Zulfiquar Ali Bhuiyan.

The charges against two other accused, Mohammad Ismail and Abdul Hasan Chowdhury, had been dismissed earlier.