Bangladesh to probe source of BNP’s lobbying money

Bangladesh has decided to investigate the source of oppsition party Bangladesh Nationalist Party's (BNP) lobbying money, amounting to at least $3.75 million, that BNP spent in the last several years to campaign against Bangladesh, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh Shah Shahriar Alam has said that the BNP  hired foreign lobbyists in the US to run an anti-Bangladesh campaign. He said that BNP spent at least USD 3.75 million for hiring three US firms named Akin Company Associates, Blue Star Strategies and Rasky Partners while Jamat signed an agreement with an organisation named ‘Peace and Justice’.

The Minister said that the government has found eight documents which show the US lobbyists were hired by some Bangladeshi nationals. Out of these eight agreements, at least three were signed by BNP using its official address at Naya Paltan area in Dhaka as the principal address. However, the documents signed on behalf of Jamat carry addresses of New York instead of any Bangladesh address. Shahriar Alam said that the government would forward these documents to the Bangladesh Bank governor to check whether proper authorisation was taken to send money to the US firms or not. If they did not take proper authorization from the central bank, the government expects that legal steps will be taken, said the Minister.
He further said that he believes that there are many more such agreements signed by BNP and Jamat with foreign lobbyists which are still unavailable to the public. He presented several documents that show BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir wrote to the US House Comm BNP lobbied to stop foreign assistance to Bangladesh and increase the US government's pressure on human rights grounds, said Shahriar Alam.ittee on Foreign Affairs, Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs in 2019. "We believe BNP and Jamaat worked on other issues against Bangladesh under disguise."