Adviser Asif apologizes for father's contractor license

Adviser to the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, and the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Asif Mahmud Sajeeb Bhuiyan, has issued a public apology over his father's possession of a contractor license, acknowledging it as a conflict of interest.

In a Facebook post made Thursday morning (April 24), Asif Mahmud addressed the controversy, stating, “First of all, I apologize for my father's mistake.” He explained that a journalist contacted him the previous night around 9:00 PM inquiring about a contractor license issued in his father's name. Upon confirming with his father, he learned that the license was indeed issued by the District Executive Engineer’s office.

Asif clarified that his father, a schoolteacher and headmaster of Akubpur Yakub Ali Bhuiyan Public High School, had obtained the license based on advice from a local contractor who suggested using the license for facilitating work opportunities. Although obtaining such a license is legal for any citizen, Asif admitted that it created a clear conflict of interest given his advisory role in ministries overseeing local development and contracting work.

“After explaining the matter, the license has been canceled today upon my father's application,” he stated, adding that no application for work had been submitted or carried out using the license in question.