News Title : BTRC starts GP audit on Oct 20

News Date : 2015-10-07

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A file photo shows rickshaws crossing while pedestrians walking past Grameenphone headquarters in Dhaka. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission will start audit of the country’s leading mobile phone operator Grameenphone on October 20 after an initial audit attempt into the operators was foiled in 2011. — New Age photo The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission will start audit of the country’s leading mobile phone operator Grameenphone on October 20 after an initial audit attempt into the operators was foiled in 2011. Telecom regulator officials said the commission signed an agreement with Toha Khan Zaman & Co on Tuesday for the job. ‘As per the deal, the firm will start the audit process on October 20,’ a senior BTRC official told New Age. CNK & Associates LLP is the foreign partner of Toha Khan Zaman in this job, he said. ‘To ensure international standard we kept a provision that the selected audit firm must have an international partner,’ the official said. He said Masih Muhith Haque & Co would audit another mobile phone company Robi. ‘We will sign an agreement in this regard on October 12,’ the official said. The BTRC’s audit move was aimed at looking into the financial details of all telecom operators to check if there was any irregularity, especially in sharing revenue between operators and the government. In May 2011, the telecom regulator appointed an auditor to examine GP which found that the operator’s outstanding amount to the government was Tk 3,034 crore in unpaid revenue and tax. The High Court in August 2011, upon a writ petition filed against BTRC’s appointment of the audit firms, declared the appointment of the auditor illegal as it violated Public Procurement Rule 2008. The court, however, in its judgement made an observation that the BTRC might conduct a new audit to settle the issue as it was related to huge amount of unpaid public money. The BTRC again in January 2013 called for international audit firms to crosscheck various information of the six telecom operators — Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi, Airtel, Citycell and Teletalk. The commission cancelled the process as the country’s local auditors claimed that as per the country’s law a foreign audit firm could work in capacity of a consultant but could not be appointed as an auditor. The telecom regulator in February 2014 floated fresh tender for the job calling audit firms with a condition that participating firms must have registration of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh and have foreign partners.

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