Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has made it clear that the audit claim dispute with the telecom operators Grameenphone and Robi involving over Taka 134.47 billion will be settled through the court as the two operators did not pay any amount till date as part of the ‘out of court’ settlement.
“We moved ahead sincerely to make an ‘out of court’ settlement and we’ve also waited for long. But, they (GP, Robi) didn’t pay anything. Had they (GP, Robi) make any payment, we then could understand that they are sincere and interested about the out of court settlement,” Kamal said on Wednesday (Oct 30).
His remarks came while speaking to reporters after meetings of the cabinet committees on economic affairs and public purchase, reports BSS.
Kamal said the he had done his level best to come to a solution over the matter along with his colleagues at the telecoms ministry, NBR, BTRC, before adding, “Now the things will move on as per the decision of the court. We won’t be able to go beyond the decision of the court.”
He also hoped that something positive would come from the court in this regard.
On Aug 25 and Aug 26 respectively, the mobile operators Robi and Grameenphone filed two cases with a Dhaka court, seeking permanent injunctions on the telecom regulator’s audit claims of Tk 134.47 billion.
On Sept 5, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) issued show cause notices on the operators, asking them to explain within 30 days why their licenses would not be cancelled for not paying the dues.
The telecom regulator ran separate audits into the two operators’ books from their inception until December 2014 and claimed the amounts – Tk 125.8 billion from GP and Tk 8.67 billion from Robi.
GP’s dues to the government, included Tk 40.85 billion to the National Board of Revenue (NBR), while Robi’s dues, including Taka 1.97 billion to the NBR alone, as per BTRC audit records.