Corruption rate declined when BNP was in power: Mahdi Amin

BNP chairperson’s adviser and the party’s election steering committee spokesperson, Mahdi Amin, said the rate of corruption consistently declined when the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, BNP, was in power.

He said top leaders of a particular party have once again taken responsibility for promoting an old, false and deceptive narrative branding BNP as world champions of corruption, despite it being nationally proven that corruption rates declined after BNP assumed state power.

Mahdi Amin made the remarks at a press conference at the BNP central election management office on Wednesday afternoon.

He said when BNP formed the government in 2001, Bangladesh’s corruption score at an international index stood at 0.4, reflecting corruption during the Awami League’s time in power from 1996 to 2001. He said BNP’s zero-tolerance policy on corruption and commitment to good governance led to steady improvement, and by the time BNP left office in 2006, the score had risen to 2.

He added that portraying BNP as world champions of corruption is a planned smear campaign against the party that played the strongest role in curbing corruption and even established an independent Anti-Corruption Commission.

Addressing Jamaat-e-Islami, Mahdi Amin said the party was itself part of the government from 2001 to 2006, with two ministers and several members of parliament, yet no such comments on corruption were heard at the time. He alleged that Jamaat is now continuing fascist-style propaganda in the election arena.

The BNP also accused Jamaat-e-Islami of offering inducements to voters and violating the electoral code of conduct.