The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

Cabinet Secretary Ali Imam Majumder Sunday refuted a report published in a daily newspaper that entertainment spending on council-of-advisers meetings of the present caretaker government increased compared to that of the last government.

He drew attention to the advisory council meeting held on Sunday and gave an explanation to the advisory council.

The report of the daily newspaper published yesterday (October 5) says that per-meeting entertainment expenditure of the sixty-member council of ministers of the last government was maximum Tk 10,000 while the spending per meeting for the 16-member council of advisers rose to Tk 26,000.

Ali Imam said, "The report is not factual-far from the truth."

Giving the breakdowns of the entertainment expenditure of cabinet meetings and council meetings of last four years, he said despite price rise of food items, the entertainment expenditures were comparatively less than that counted during the last government.

He mentioned at the council-of-advisers meeting that the total number of cabinet meetings in 2005 was 39 and average per-meeting expenditure was Tk 11,284 while the total cabinet meetings in 2006 were 38 with average entertainment expenditure of Tk 13,037 per meet.

And the number of total meetings of the council of advisers in 2007 was 74 and average per-meeting entertainment expenditure was Tk 12,296. The number of meetings of the council of advisers held so far in 2008 was 52 and average per-meeting expenditure was Tk about 9,000 excluding the expenditure of five council-of-advisers meetings outside the capital.

The cabinet secretary said anybody wanting further details could contact him.

It was mentioned at the meeting that not all of the 60 members of the council of ministers had attended the cabinet meeting while the attendance in the council-of-advisers meeting is of about 30, not 16.

CA's Press Secretary Syed Fahim Munaim, who was present at the council meeting, quoting the explanation given by the Cabinet Secretary, briefed newsmen.