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Hasnat Abdullah
Member of Parliament Hasnat Abdullah alleged on Sunday that persistent attempts are being made by ruling party lawmakers to render the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Finance ineffective and purely ceremonial through various pretexts and procedural delays.
Speaking to reporters following the conclusion of the committee's second formal meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, the lawmaker claimed that certain treasury bench members sought to abbreviate deliberations under the plea of inadequate preparation or abruptly leave the room citing other meeting commitments before crucial national policy agendas could be thoroughly reviewed.
Hasnat Abdullah stated that while Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury and senior National Board of Revenue (NBR) officials maintained a constructive and positive stance on critical structural reforms—including NBR restructuring and improving the tax-to-GDP ratio—no definitive policy consensus could be reached due to a lack of genuine cooperation from ruling party members. He remarked:
"Without serving as the committee chair, the Chief Whip exercises unsolicited intervention during the proceedings. Treasury bench members have treated this vital parliamentary standing committee as merely ornamental rather than engaging with sincere legislative commitment."
The lawmaker noted that during the committee's inaugural session, several treasury bench members similarly claimed they were unprepared, a pattern that repeated during Sunday's deliberations.
Despite the procedural friction, Hasnat Abdullah outlined several key reform proposals placed during the meeting aimed at eliminating administrative harassment of business entities. These recommendations include establishing an integrated, real-time digital database linking sea and land ports, commercial banks, and the NBR to streamline customs assessments. Further proposals centered on expanding the national tax net, enhancing the cargo-handling capacity of the Kamalapur Inland Container Depot (ICD), and automating revenue management workflows.
During the working session, committee members placed particular emphasis on two core governance areas:
Modernization and Transparency: Upgrading national accounting and financial reporting frameworks to enhance state audit clarity, institutional accountability, and operational efficiency across fiscal divisions.
Structural Anti-Corruption Mechanisms: Transitioning from person-to-person administrative interactions to fully automated digital channels, focusing on dismantling vulnerable administrative procedures rather than relying solely on post-facto punitive actions.
The meeting also reviewed a comprehensive institutional presentation delivered by the NBR outlining ongoing measures to bridge the tax-to-GDP gap, fiscal capacity projections for state expenditure, and proposed organizational restructuring frameworks. The session was attended by committee member and Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Chief Whip Md. Nurul Islam Moni, and Members of Parliament Md. Jalal Uddin, Moinul Islam Khan, Md. Shahadat Hossain, Md. Saiful Alam, and Syed Joynul Abedin.
