Finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed on Monday said that the public officials working with neutrality and accountability should not be worried.聽聽聽聽聽聽
He made the statement while commenting on the National Board of Revenue officials who were involved in demonstration and work abstention in the past week.
The finance adviser was addressing a function on one-year completion of budget of 72 state-owned enterprises under the 鈥楽tate-Owned Enterprises (SoE) and Autonomous Bodies (AB) Budget, Reporting and Evaluation Database (SABRE+)鈥� software at the secretariat in the capital Dhaka.聽
Expressing satisfaction with the suspension of the programme by the NBR Reforms Unity Council, a platform of protesting tax officials, he said that a cabinet committee had already been appointed to resolve the outstanding issues.
On Sunday evening, the NBR Reforms Unity Council called off its protest programmes against the NBR chairman and the splitting of the revenue board, hours after the government decided to declare customs-related activities as 鈥榚ssential services鈥� and the Anti-Corruption Commission initiated an inquiry into allegations of amassing illegal wealth against six NBR officials, including leaders of the NBR Reforms Unity Council.
The finance adviser dismissed any interference by the interim government about the inquiry by the Anti-Corruption Commission against the six NBR officials, including NBR Reforms Unity Council president Hasan Muhammad Tarek Rikabdar.
Referring to the Bangladesh Bank, Salehuddin said that the finance ministry did not interfere in activities of others.
He said that three governors between May 2009 and August 2024 used to act as representatives of the ousted Awami League regime.
Noting that the trend has changed after the political changeover, the finance adviser said that services linked to national interest could not be suspended since ports, customs stations and bond commissionrates are not private properties.
The Finance Division is working to bring approximately 400 state-owned and autonomous institutions under the SABRE+ database through this online system, according to a press release issued by the finance ministry on Monday.
SABRE+ is an online database system developed by the monitoring cell of the Finance Division.
It is used to prepare the budgets of state-owned enterprises and autonomous bodies, calculate their debt and contingent liabilities along with reporting and evaluating their overall performance.
The system aims to ensure transparency, efficiency, and sound financial management by simplifying the processes of budget preparation, accurate accounting of assets and liabilities, evaluation, and reporting through a digital online platform.
The SABRE+ was launched on a trial basis in 2023 and piloted on 12 institutions in the past financial year.
