Dhaka: Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said on Thursday that government is struggling to settle the beggars as most of them are professional beggars.

‘No one begs out of poverty. They continue begging though government is providing all facilities. There are six lakh beggars in Bangladesh. Most of them are professional beggars.’

He said this while speaking as the chief guest in a program of Anti-Corruption Prevention week organized by ACC to reward the members of the best committees at Upazila, Zilla and Division level who contributed to prevent corruption at the Shilpakala Academy in the capital.

The finance minister also said, ‘I believe that there will be no more beggars in the country if Sheikh Hasina comes to power again. The new generation will follow the purification strategy. The ACC will remain as watchdog. After 8 or 10 years, nobody will say Bangladesh is a corrupted country as the corruption will be minimized with effective programme.’

Mentioning the government salary as standard, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said ‘No government workers are paid under Tk 16,000. Engaging with corruption is their greed and habit. It is almost impossible to prevent this immoral practice. But the effort to prevent the corruption from the country will be continued.’

Expressing concern over chartered accountancy firm’s fake financial report, ACC chairman Iqbal Mahmud said some organizations are using different financial statements in the same year in different organizations.

He expressed surprise over the fact that financial statements submitted in the Income Tax department, there is no similarity with the financial statements submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission for the IPO or the financial statements submitted for borrowing from the bank. How is it possible? Every financial statement per year of the business organization must be the same.

Iqbal Mahmud said, ‘We received such complaints. We expect CA Firm to provide accurate information. If they do not maintain it, ACC may investigate the matter.’

ACC Additional Commissioner ATM Aminul Islam and Director General Zafar Iqbal also spoke on the occasion.

Meanwhile, ACC chairman Iqbal Mahmud inaugurated a blood donation program at the ACC headquarter in the morning.