Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) Chairman Iqbal Mahmood urged the businesses Wednesday to maintain moral standard and adhere to legal requirements while doing business.
"There should be a moral standard of doing business because the country's constitution doesn't support gaining of wealth by evading value added tax (VAT) and other taxes, and indulging in over or under-invoicing," he said.
The ACC chief was addressing an exchange of views meeting, titled 'Providing Corruption-Free Public Service for Investment & Business Friendly Environment', organised by Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) at the ACC headquarters in the capital.
BIDA Executive Chairman Kazi M Aminul Islam, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Director Hasina Newaaz, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) Director Salim Akter Khan and Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Dhaka (MCCI) Secretary General Farooq Ahmed were also present and spoke.
Talking about the relation between the ACC and the country's business community, Iqbal Mahmood said it is heard on occasions that the businesses get harassed by some of the members of the national anti-graft body.
"Without hesitation, I want to say that if any of you experience such incident, just inform the commission about it; because, our door is always open for businesses," he said.
Noting that the commission last year nabbed 25 government officials and staffs red-handed for taking bribe, he said, "We expect that the businesses will come to us facing such situation (bribery)."
The ACC chairman also assured the business leaders that their works will not be hampered if they stand against ill practices like bribery.
Receiving bribe or speed money in return for providing government services quickly will not be tolerated, he warned.
Besides, he also said, the ACC will not interfere into the process of disbursing or recovering bank loans as the commission is not authorised to do so.
But, if anyone uses forged papers or documents to get bank loans, it will come under the ACC jurisdiction, he added.
Speaking at the programme, BIDA Chairman Aminul Islam said corruption should be curbed for the sake of attracting more investments and Bangladesh needs to do a lot in this regard.
Stressing the need for creating equal opportunity for all to do business, he said any person should be allowed to do business who obeys rules and regulations of trade and investment.
"I hope, corruption shouldn't be a barrier to this opportunity (doing business)," he said.
FBCCI representative at the programme, Hasina Newaaz, however, alleged that business people sometimes pay speed money to government officials to get their works done quickly.
Such practice is a corruption and those who do this should immediately shun it, she added.
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