NBR's Matiur Rahman
NBR's Matiur Rahman

Goat saga

NBR’s Matiur didn’t take permission to buy land, do business

Recent past member of National Board of Revenue (NBR) Matiur Rahman, who came into discussion following his son’s attempt to buy a sacrificial goat at a cost of Tk 1.5 million, gravely violating the rules of conduct of the government employees.

In fact, he violated three types of rules of conduct.

Firstly, Matiur Rahman did not take the authority’s permission to buy tangible assets including home and car; secondly, despite a ban, Matiur and his family members have investment in share market; thirdly, there are multiple business enterprises in the name of Matiur and his son and daughter, which is a clear violation of the rules of conduct.

Matiur Rahman did not take permission from the NBR, and Internal Resources Division (IRD) of the finance ministry, said several officials of the NBR’s administration department.

Not only Matiur Rahman, most of the government officials do not take any permission from them before buying land, home, flat and other assets, said the officials.

The  officials hide their information apprehending that there could be questions of their sources of income.

Generally, the officials are to submit applications to seek the NBR admin’s permission before taking loans from banks or other financial institutions.

Prothom Alo tried to contact NBR member (customs and vat admin) Farzana Afrose. Neither did she reply to the SMS sent to her.

Experts think Matiur Rahman has clearly violated the rules for government employees.

Speaking to Prothom Alo in this regard, former additional secretary to the public administration ministry and an expert on the rules for government employees Firoz Mia said, Matiur Rahman clearly violated the rules by not taking permission before buying tangible assets and starting business. A government official must take permission before acquiring assets and in no way can he invest in the share market and start business. This is a serious violation of the rules.

IRD alongside the Anti-Corruption Commission can initiate a departmental investigation in this regard, he stressed.