Information Minister Hasan Mahmud on Tuesday said it is the “profession” of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) and Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) to find out loopholes in the budget, and by doing this, they bring money from abroad and run their organisations.

The minister said this in the parliament while participating in a discussion on the proposed budget for fiscal year 2023-24.

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Hasan Mahmud said TIB and BNP give similar statements every year after the national budget is placed in parliament.

“There is an organization called CPD. They find out various loopholes in the budget in a bid to show their erudition. It is their profession. By doing this, they get money from abroad and run the organization with it. TIB also does this,” the information minister said.

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Pointing to the letter of members of the European Parliament (MEP), the minister said, they didn’t write the letter to Bangladesh. They wrote it to their international committee chair.

“There are 705 members (in EU). Among them, six members wrote the letter. BNP is delighted with it. Some are also expressing pleasure. This letter has no meaning, no value. In any other country, this letter would not have been published in the newspaper. It has been published in our country,” he said.

The information minister also said that six out of 435 US congressmen have written a letter to Joe Biden, claiming that minorities are being persecuted in Bangladesh.

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“All the minority organisations of Bangladesh have given statements against it. The archbishop (emeritus) of the Christian community has issued a statement saying that the letter is devoid of reality. They said, minorities are doing well under the Sheikh Hasina government. They are rather afraid of what will happen if fundamentalist forces come to power again,” he said.

When asked about the letter in the regular briefing of White House, they said that they don’t know anything about the letter.

The minister said that only a few newspapers in Bangladesh, the secretary general and leaders of BNP know about the letter.

Participating in the budget discussion, LGRD Minister Tajul Islam also echoed the information minister, saying there is nothing to be happy or anxious about as far as the letter from some US congressmen is concerned.

“They (USA) can formulate their visa policy. There is no reason to be worried,” he said.

Deputy Minister for Environment, Habibun Nahar, in her speech said that although the successes of various ministries of the government are many, her ministry’s successes are less.

She said that trees are being felled for development work.

“The Forest Department has made various progress for afforestation. But we have to go back due to different development works. Be it public or private, any development work involves felling of trees one way or another,” she said.