The government has decided to resolve the audit claim dispute of over Taka 134.47 billion with two telecom operators -- Grameenphone and Robi -- through the court as the operators did not pay any amount till date as part of the ‘out of court’ settlement.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal gave the information while talking to reporters after chairing two separate meetings of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase at the Cabinet Division conference room on Wednesday evening, reports BSS.
“We moved ahead sincerely to make an ‘out of court’ settlement and we’ve also waited for long. But, they (GP, Robi) didn’t pay anything. If they (GP, Robi) make any payment, we then could understand that they are sincere and interested about the out of court settlement,” Kamal said.
Kamal said the he had done his level best to come to a solution over the matter along with his colleagues at the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, NBR, BTRC, adding, “Now the things will move on as per the decision of the court. We won’t be able to go beyond the decision of the court.” He added.
He also hoped that something positive would come from the court in this regard.
Earlier, on August 25 and August 26 respectively, the mobile operators Robi and Grameenphone filed two cases with a Dhaka court, seeking permanent injunctions on the telecom regulator’s audit claims of Tk 134.47 billion.
On September 5, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) issued show cause notices on the operators, asking them to explain within 30 days why their licenses would not be cancelled for not paying the dues.
The telecom regulator ran separate audits into the two operators’ books from their inception until December 2014 and claimed the amounts – Taka 125.80 billion from GP and Taka 8.67 billion from Robi.
GP owes Taka 125.80 billion to the government, including Taka 40.86 billion to the National Board of Revenue (NBR), while Robi owes Taka 8.67 billion to the government, including Taka 1.97 billion to the NBR alone, as per BTRC audit records.
The meeting approved two proposals at the Economic Affairs Committee meeting and six proposals at the Purchase Committee meeting.
When asked about the two-year ban on the country’s premier all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan by the ICC, the Finance Minister termed it as a ‘sad incident’ for the nation.
Bangladesh premier all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan was handed a two-year ban, with one year goes suspended, by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on yesterday after the 32-year old had accepted three charges of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.
Kamal said the ban would definitely cast a stormy effect on the life of Shakib side by side the dignity of the country would be impaired to some extent.
“It’s quite unfortunate for the nation as the country will definitely be affected for losing him. Shakib’s replacement is not possible in the Bangladesh cricket team,” he added.
Noting that the ace all-rounder Shakib has showed his sign of honesty in the matter as he spoke the truth, Kamal, also a former ICC President, said Shakib could have informed about the development to the BCB or even to the Prime Minister.
The Finance Minister said the ICC is very much tough over breach of discipline and over max-fixing since it pursues an ‘uncompromising attitude’ in this regard.
