It's premature decision

The World Bank's decision to cancel its loan for the Padma bridge was arbitrary, Mashiur Rahman, economic adviser to the prime minister, said yesterday. "The laws or the legal processes were not followed properly [in the cancellation]," he said in an interview with The Daily Star, hours after the WB scrapped its $1.2 billion loan on allegations of corruption in the $2.9 billion project. The WB should disclose the names of the people it had been accusing of corruption, along with evidence, he said. The deadline for the loan effectuation was July 27 but the Washington-based lender took the ultimate decision before that, said Mashiur, who is also the integrity adviser of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge project. "It is a premature decision.” There was still time for the WB to see whether the government took any step in line with the agreement between them and whether it failed to implement any particular measure within a stipulated timeframe, he said. The WB sent a high-powered team to Bangladesh, which placed some “compromise conditions” for the loan, he said, adding the WB had to reach a consensus with the government through discussions. If they failed to reach a consensus, the WB could at least have waited until the deadline for loan effectuation, Mashiur said. Now, the government will make the next move on this issue in line with the WB's rules and regulations. "The finance minister will give details of the plan." The prime minister's economic adviser said he had not seen any indifference from the government side to addressing the allegations brought by the WB. In his view, the government should have been given time to prove the allegations. The Anti-Corruption Commission is an independent organisation, he said, adding, "You (the WB) cannot say that you will oversee how the ACC conducts a probe.” The remark came in relation to the WB's conditions that included appointment of a special team for the case within the ACC and letting a World Bank-appointed panel have access to information on the investigation. If the ACC is not capable of doing the probe independently, the WB can extend its support. "But if you [the WB] tell us that 'I will not give loan to Bangladesh if the ACC does not do this [fulfil my conditions],' you are disrespecting the ACC." He also disapproved of the WB's suggestion that the government officials involved in the alleged corruption should be on leave until the probe was complete. The government cannot send someone on leave before he or she is proven guilty.