Local Government Adviser Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain has described a fire at the Bangladesh Secretariat as a deliberate conspiracy aimed at undermining the interim government and destroying evidence of corruption.
Asif, who is also the youth and sports adviser, made the allegation in a post on his Facebook profile on Thursday.
He mentioned that the government had been investigating financial embezzlement and corruption in the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives.
Evidence of misappropriation amounting to several thousand crores had been uncovered, Asif added.
“The extent of the damage caused by the fire is yet to be determined. Those involved in this conspiracy to derail our efforts will not be spared. I am in Nilphamari now and will return to Dhaka as soon as possible.”
Commenting on the same issue, Hasnat Abdullah, a key coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, criticized bureaucrats, saying the interim government’s leniency towards “enablers of fascism” would bring unending suffering to this nation.
Those who had dined on ouster prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s offerings were now running sympathy-gaining campaigns for the fascists under the guise of human rights, he added.
“If these campaigns cannot be stopped, it is over for you. Today it is the bureaucrats; tomorrow it will be someone else.”
Firefighters brought the fire at Building 7 of the Bangladesh Secretariat fully under control in the morning after it burned for nearly six hours.
The fire had caused significant damage to the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth floors of the building, Fire Service and Civil Defence Director General Brigadier General Muhammad Jahed Kamal told reporters.
Dhaka Tribune