Bangladesh News

Lawmakers are getting back the privilege of importing duty-free vehicles.

They will however not be allowed to bring in luxury cars as many legislators in the past did so only to sell those for tidy sums, rendering the privilege controversial.

This time MPs will be entitled to cars with engines measuring up to 1800cc, SUVs 3000cc and microbuses 2000cc, officials at Parliament Secretariat said yesterday.

They will receive Tk 40,000 a month to pay for chauffer’s salary, fuel and maintenance.

The decisions were made at a meeting chaired by Speaker Abdul Hamid on Tuesday.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shafique Ahmed, establishment and finance secretaries and National Board of Revenue (NBR) officials were present at the meeting.

“If everything goes as planned, I think they [MPs] will be able to import duty-free cars this year,” the speaker told The Daily Star yesterday.

A senior Parliament Secretariat official said, “The decision will soon be communicated to the prime minister. And on her consent, legal aspects regarding the privilege will be finalised.”

In the wake of gross abuse of this privilege, the caretaker government in June 2007 had an ordinance repealing the provision that allowed lawmakers to import duty-free vehicles under the Members of Parliament (Remuneration and Allowances) Order, 1973.

The current parliament however did not ratify the ordinance.

The provision was introduced on May 24, 1987, during HM Ershad’s rule and was amended on August 28, 2002, with retrospective effect from July 1 that year.

If the privilege is revived, an MP will be able to import one vehicle during his tenure without having to pay customs duty, sales tax, development surcharge and import permit fee.

Earlier in June last year, a Jatiya Sangsad Secretariat Commission meeting presided over by the speaker had decided to recommend that the government provide lawmakers with vehicles.

But the decision was revised as that entailed a cost of around Tk 700 crore and other complications.

In an alternative proposal to the prime minister, Hamid suggested allowing import of duty-free vehicles in a way that will not let lawmakers go for luxury automobiles taking advantage of the privilege.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina requested the speaker to make a decision in consultation with the finance minister.

In the previous parliament, lawmakers imported over 275 luxury vehicles depriving the state exchequer of Tk 280 crore in taxes.

Taxes for most of those cars ranged between 73.91 and 196.10 percent, according to NBR officials.

Many legislators sold their cars though laws did not permit so within three years of purchase.

They made at least Tk 50 crore selling BMWs, Cadillacs and Porsches during their tenure.

For personal use, they preferred inexpensive and cheap-to-run cars.

The army-led joint forces seized a number of those luxury cars from businessmen during the last caretaker government rule.