Reiterating his call to all concerned for not to wasting public fund anymore, Adviser to the interim government on the Ministries of Finance and Commerce Dr Salehuddin Ahmed on Sunday asked the chartered secretaries to pursue transparency and accountability in their operations to ensure good corporate governance.
"The work you (chartered secretaries) usually do is very important for ensuring transparency and accountability in corporate governance and you must pursue it," he said.
The Finance Adviser was addressing the '11th ICSB National Award for Corporate Governance Excellence, 2023' as the chief guest held at a city hotel on Sunday.
Mentioning that the current interim government is worried to some extent over the entire governance of the country including in the political and economical front, he said such situation should be dealt with efficiency.
Reminding all concerned not to waste public fund unnecessarily, Dr Salehuddin opined that many public fund was wasted unnecessarily in the past since there were no such transparency and accountability. "The role of ICSB is very much important in this regard to ensure transparency and accountability in corporate governance,"
He asked the chartered secretaries to work with more care and through ethical practice to boost confidence over the companies by people so that those could woe more local and foreign investment.
Alleging that rampant corruption and wastage of public fund happened in the country over the years, the Adviser said they want to give a strong message to the culprits that it would not be possible anymore to get clean chits after committing corruption.
"Rather, punishment will be given to the corrupts following proper process to avert reoccurrence of such incidents," he said adding that they want to remove the barriers which stand in the way of a potential Bangladesh.
The Adviser also asked the chartered secretaries to do their operations through due diligence and thus unearth the corrupts and made them accountable.
The Institute of Chartered Secretaries of Bangladesh (ICSB) awarded 41 companies at the event for their outstanding corporate governance practices as well as transparency and accountability in overall management.
According to the fixed standards of ICSB, the companies were mainly judged in terms of how perfectly they promoted corporate governance, transparency and accountability in overall management of their team during the year 2023 and ensuring compliance of Corporate Governance Code of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC).
The theme of the award is 'Promoting Governing Excellence'.
Khondoker Rashed Maqsood, Chairman of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), Dr Md Khairuzzaman Mozumder, Secretary, Finance Division, Ministry of Finance, Md Selim Uddin, Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Md Abdur Rahman Khan, Secretary, Internal Resources Division & Chairman, National Board of Revenue (NBR), spoke as special guests.
M Nurul Alam, Chairman of the Corporate Governance Committee and Senior Vice President of ICSB presided over the program.
Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, presented trophies and certificates to 41 winning companies under 14 categories who are listed with the Dhaka Stock Exchange PLC. and Chittagong Stock Exchange PLC. Companies were recognised with awards in the Gold, Silver and Bronze categories.
Eastern Bank PLC won the Gold trophy in the General Banking category while BRAC Bank PLC secured silver and City Bank PLC Bronze.
In Islami banking category no company was considered. IDLC Finance PLC won the Gold award in the Non-Banking Financial Institutions category while IPDC Finance PLC bagged Silver and DBH Finance PLC received Bronze award.
In the General Insurance category, the Gold trophy went to City Insurance PLC the Silver to Green Delta Insurance PLC and the Bronze to Sena Insurance PLC. In the Life Insurance category Pragati Life Insurance Limited bagged Silver award and National Life Insurance PLC received Bronze trophy.
Square Pharmaceuticals PLC took home the top honor in the Pharmaceuticals and Chemical category. The IBN Sina Pharmaceutical Industry PLC won Silver and The Acme Laboratories Limited and Navana Pharmaceuticals PLC both received Bronze trophy.
In the Textile and RMG Company category Paramount Textile PLC bagged the Gold, Matin Spinning Mills PLC got Silver and Square Textiles PLC and Shasha Denims Limited both received Bronze trophy.
Unilever Consumer Care Limited won Gold, Olympic Industries Limited won Silver and Agricultural Marketing Company Ltd received Bronze respectively in the Food and Allied Company category.
IT Consultants PLC got the Gold trophy in the Information and Communication Technology category, ADN Telecom Limited won Silver and BDCOM Online Limited and Aamra Technologies Limited both received Bronze trophy. Walton Hi-Tech Industries PLC got the Gold trophy in the engineering category, Singer Bangladesh Limited won Silver and BSRM Steels Limited won Bronze trophy.
LafargeHolcim Bangladesh Ltd won the Gold, RAK Ceramics (Bangladesh) Limited bagged won Silver and Index Agro Industries Limited and Marico Bangladesh Limited both received Bronze trophy in the Manufacturing category.
In the Fuel and Power Company category, United Power Generation & Distribution Company Ltd secured Gold, MJL Bangladesh PLC won Silver and Linde Bangladesh Limited received Bronze trophy. Unique Hotel & Resorts PLC won the top honor in the Service Company category while Eastern Housing
Limited bagged Silver.
In the Telecommunications category, Grameenphone Ltd. bagged Gold award and Robi Axiata PLC received Silver and Bangladesh Submarine Cables PLC secured Bronze trophy.
A K M Mushfiqur Rahman FCS, Vice President of ICSB shared the insights of Corporate Governance Awarding Charter. Mohammad Shafiqul Islam Bhuiyan, Council Member of ICSB delivered a vote of thanks on behalf of the Institute.
The event was attended by dignitaries, government officials, professionals, chairpersons, directors, managing directors, and senior officials from the country's leading corporate houses, along with members of the Institute and journalists.
