‘Have documents on how much BNP-Jamaat spent on lobbying in US’

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam today told the parliament that he has proof and is aware of how much BNP-Jamaat paid to US lobby firms over the last five years.

Speaking on the thanksgiving motion, on President Abdul Hamid's speech, the junior minister said the first document he got hold of was on hiring a lobbyist -- Akin Company Associates -- in the United States in 2015.

"An agreement, with the address of BNP's Naya Paltan office, was signed with them. The agreement was valid for three years and US$ 50,000 was given per month -- meaning that a total of nearly two million dollars were paid to them," said the state minister.

The junior minister said he has 10 such documents in this regard, and showed some documents in the parliament.

The state minister said each political party submits its accounts on expenditure and income to the Election Commission.

"BNP should be asked whether this money was given with the approval of Bangladesh Bank. If not, we want an investigation into whether the money of orphans has been laundered abroad to pay for lobbying," he said. 

"We want to know the answer from the Election Commission through the Speaker."

The state minister said the future of Bangladesh will be determined by 16 crore people of Bangladesh. No country in the world, no matter how powerful, can determine the future of Bangladesh.

"If we have problems we will discuss in parliament. We will take to the streets. We will solve the problem there. We will go to Election Commission. We will go to the President," he said.

Earlier at around 11:05am, the parliament session started with Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.