Dhaka, Nov 12 (V7N)- Former state minister and Dhaka-6 MP Ishraq Hossain has taken a swipe at State Minister for Local Government Mir Shahe Alam over his recent remarks on gifts given by contractors to engineers, saying the minister was 95 per cent correct but made a 5 per cent mistake.
Ishraq made the comment in a post on his verified Facebook page at around 12:30 am on Wednesday (November 11).
In the post, he said that anyone who listened to Shahe Alam's full statement would understand that he was 95 per cent correct. Ishraq said the minister's remarks about the quality of construction work carried out with taxpayers' money were valid, but that he had made a 5 per cent mistake.
He added that, regardless of how such transactions were described, bribery was entirely illegal and immoral.
Ishraq further said that the party founded on the ideology of martyred President Ziaur Rahman did not support any illegal or immoral activity.
He said the remarks might reflect the minister's personal views or practices, but neither Prime Minister Tarique Rahman nor the government supported such conduct. He also argued that the media should have presented the comments as the minister's personal statement.
Earlier, on Tuesday (November 10), Shahe Alam said at an event in Agargaon, Dhaka, that if a contractor was satisfied with the work and gave a gift to an engineer from the project's dividends, it would not constitute bribery.
The state minister later withdrew the controversial remarks and expressed regret on Wednesday. However, he maintained that comparing his statement with the legalisation of bribery amounted to 'political propaganda'.
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