The Election Commission has turned down a foreign ministry request to pay Tk 1 crore that the ministry claimed were expenses for a group of 19 foreign observers and other guests during the January 7 general election.
‘There is no question of paying the amount as they [foreign observers and other guests] were not invited by the Election Commission,’ Election Commission additional secretary Ashok Kumar Debnath told New Age on Wednesday.
The commission would inform the ministry of the matter soon, he said.
He said that they received a letter from the ministry on February 25 for bearing the expenses and later discussed the issue in a meeting.
The ministry sent the letter to the chief election commissioner, mentioning that election observers from different countries and other guests stayed in Dhaka during the 12th parliamentary elections.
‘During their stay in the country, they needed to allocate expenses for hotel accommodation, travel, and entertainment to various destinations, including polling stations, local hospitality, reception at the airport, a help desk, the setting up of media centres in local hotels, host officers, volunteers, and security,’ the letter said.
According to the letter, Tk 98.61 lakh was spent on hotel accommodation, hospitality, control and briefing room establishment, travel, and entertainment for foreign election observers who came on the occasion of the election.
According to the EC, a total of 168 foreign journalists and observers from various organisations came to observe the elections.
Most journalists and organisations monitored elections at their own expense.
But the expenses of those who came at the invitation of the government and the EC were borne by the government.
Among them, the government bore the cost of 19 foreign observers.
They include three observers from China, three from India, two from Mauritius, three from Russia, two from Sri Lanka, three from Uzbekistan, and three from the OIC.
New Age