Bangladesh Garment Buying House Association (BGBA) has expressed its concern over the written statement made by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) to the Commerce Minister regarding taking action against fraudulent activities of a section of local buying houses, which was published in a report in the August 15, 2016 issue of The Financial Express and other online newspapers. “We are extremely shocked to read such news. The BGBA had apprehended that a situation, such as expressed by the BGMEA president would surface and a blame game would be on the table,” said a statement, issued on Saturday by BGBA president Kazi Iftaquer Hossain. The statement also said: “We would like to bring to the kind attention of the government that five years ago, we had initiated a move to constitute a four-member committee, comprising of the BGMEA, and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) and BGBA to bring the local buying houses under one arbitration committee.” The BGBA said it believes that the BGMEA president has written a letter to the commerce minister, suggesting stern action against the buying houses that were involved in fraudulent activities. The BGBA president, however, wanted to know whether the BGMEA president had tried to identify the wrongdoers.
