No wrong in taking World Cup fund from Islami Bank

While an economist accuses Islami Bank of contributing to the economy of fundamentalism, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal yesterday said the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) received sponsorship from the bank for the 2011 World Cup because it was operating legally.

However, at the same breath, he said he looked for funding from other banks first and only went to Islami Bank after failing to get good responses from them.

Kamal defended his position at a press conference yesterday against allegations by economist Prof Abul Barakat that the minister "legitimised" the bank's action by taking the sponsorship.

"Islami Bank has been operating with a licence from Bangladesh Bank like other banks… Its licence has not been suspended for even one hour for illegal activities," the minister said.

On Saturday, the Dhaka University professor unveiled the findings of a research on the impact of the economy of fundamentalism on the mainstream economy, and made the accusation against the minister.

Addressing the press at the Planning Commission, Kamal said he wondered why the professor raised this question "irrelevantly" after all these years.

Kamal said when he was chairman of the standing committee on the finance ministry, Abul Barakat attended many meetings of the standing committee as chairman of Janata Bank, and the professor did not raise any question regarding this back then.

Islami Bank is run under the supervision of Bangladesh Bank, and BB officials are on the Islami Bank's board, the minister said. He said if there was any allegation of terror financing against Islami Bank, it was not supposed to operate as a bank in the first place.

He asked Prof Barakat to submit evidence, if any, in support of the allegation to the Bangladesh Bank so the central bank could investigate and take necessary action.

He alleged that the professor did not speak the truth.

"At the time of organising the Cricket World Cup, there was no bank in Bangladesh I did not turn to, but none made the desired response. After failing to get the response from any bank, I was compelled to take money from Islami Bank," Kamal said.

He said BCB's total spending for the World Cup publicity was Tk 30 crore, of which Tk 10 crore was given by Islami Bank, Tk 50 lakh by Premier Bank, and the rest by the board itself.

He said of the Tk 10 crore Islami Bank fund, Tk 1.5 crore was paid to the government as tax, adding that the government collected tax from Islami Bank like any other bank.

The minister said Islami Bank was still sponsoring cricket in Bangladesh.