Dhaka [Bangladesh], March 3 : Bangladesh has denied US President Donald Trump's allegations of Dhaka receiving USD 29 million in funds to implement a 'controversial' project to strengthen the political landscape in Bangladesh.
"The allegation that USAID awarded the 29 million USD project to a company owned by two individuals in Bangladesh is not true," Bangladesh Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"A 29 million USD project titled 'Strengthening Political Landscape (SPL) in Bangladesh' has been implemented in Bangladesh funded by USAID. Recently, US President Donald Trump has given some information about this project, which has created a lot of confusion in the public mind. In this context, the matter has been investigated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (of Bangladesh)," it added.
"Investigations revealed that USAID chose Democracy International (DI), registered in the United States, to implement this project during President Trump's first term. Following the call for project proposals, many international organizations participated in the bidding process, and USAID made the decision following a transparent competitive process. After signing the agreement in March 2017, DI started implementing the project. Later, the duration of the project was extended, and the money came in phases," the statement said.
"Initially, the SPL project had a duration of 5 years and a budget of 14 million dollars. The project was managed by USAID and financed by USAID and UK development and agency DFID (now FCDO). DFID's funding commitment to this project was USD 19 million," the statement said.
It added that the main objective of the SPL project was to promote peace and harmony by reducing political violence, creating peaceful co-existence among political parties, promoting the internal democratic practice of parties and encouraging the development of representative leadership. DI also conducts survey activities in Bangladesh under the project.
Bangladesh Foreign Ministry further said that the USAID projects are required to follow the US government's financial management policies, it follows the financial audit process strictly, and these documents are preserved even years after the completion of the project.
"Findings show that Democracy International, registered in the United States, started implementing the SPL project in Bangladesh during President Trump's first term. So the allegation that it was given to a company owned by two individuals in Bangladesh is not true. In fact, such projects are implemented through the bilateral development cooperation agreement (DOAG-Development Objective Assistance Agreement ) between Bangladesh and the United States. In this case, the individual has no power to do anything" the statement said.
Earlier, speaking at the White House, US President Donald Trump targeted a series of USAID projects that were recently cancelled based on the recommendation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk.
"29 million USD to strengthen the political landscape in Bangladesh, went to a firm that nobody ever heard of" said Trump, adding, "Can you imagine you have a little firm. You get 10,000 here, 10,000 there, and then we get 29 million USD from the US govt. They had two people working in that firm, two people, I think they're very happy, they're very rich." he said.
He went on to suggest that "they'll be on the cover of a very good business magazine pretty soon, for being great scammers."
According to the US State Department, over the past 50 years, the United States has invested over eight billion dollars to improve the lives of Bangladesh.
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