AL fled with thousands of crores: Speaker

National Parliament Speaker Major (retd) Hafiz Uddin Ahmed Bir Bikram has described the Awami League as “the biggest thieves in the history of the world”, accusing the party of looting public money and fleeing the country with thousands of crores of taka.

He made the remarks while addressing a public reception organized by Lalmohan upazila and municipal BNP and its affiliated organizations at the Lalmohan Upazila Parishad on Tuesday afternoon, following his election as chairman of the Asia-Pacific Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

The Speaker alleged that the Awami League had believed it could remain in power indefinitely through plundering state resources.

“They thought they would remain in power until the Day of Judgement. They believed their lives would continue this way,” he said, adding that many had fled the country with huge sums of money.

He said the current government would take action against corrupt individuals through the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). He also referred to convictions of several Awami League leaders in murder cases during the interim government's tenure and said a court had sentenced former prime minister Sheikh Hasina to death.

Speaking about freedom of expression and accountability, Hafiz Uddin said people now had the freedom to criticise the government and the head of government.

He cited recent action against members of the government, saying the Prime Minister had directed a female lawmaker to resign following allegations of occupying a hospital. He also referred to the resignation of State Minister Ishraque Hossain.

Although Ishraque had acted to rein in drug traders who allegedly fired at police, the Speaker said, taking up arms himself was inappropriate and had led to the Prime Minister's directive to resign.

He said, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s uncompromising stance had made it possible to take action against members of his own party, arguing that previous governments had not taken similar steps against their lawmakers and ministers.

Among those present at the reception were Lalmohan Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Sifat Bin Sadek, Additional Superintendent of Police Satyajit Kumar Ghosh, Officer-in-Charge Nazrul Islam Majumder, Lalmohan Upazila BNP President Md Jafar Iqbal and General Secretary Shafiqul Islam Babul, along with other local leaders and officials.

-MT