Muhith says some name-only newspapers publish '2 to 3 issues a year'

Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said there are newspapers which can be called title-only since they publish only two to three issues a year to keep their names afloat.

Speaking to reporters at the Secretariat on Wednesday, Muhith revealed he is suing two newspapers for Tk 1 billion in damages each for publishing defamatory reports surrounding his planned visit to China.

The Amader Arthoniti and the Asian Age newspapers reported 'anomalies' on the part of the finance minister regarding the visit to China under Bangladesh-China relations build-up programme.

"I will sue these two newspapers for Tk 2 billion - Tk 1 billion each, for defamation. I will send them the notice today telling them that I am going to take legal action," he said.

"The Asian Age newspaper is occasionally delivered to my office. I don't subscribe to it," he added.

"This newspaper has crossed all limits," he said pointing out that the news published about him was 'totally baseless'.

"There are newspapers which have titles only as they took the licence (sic). They publish two or three issues a year. What's the point, I don't know. But, there are newspapers like that in the country."

The finance minister also said he had taken similar legal action against the Ittefaq and the Janakantha.

A bdnews24.com investigation found that those unknown newspapers were shown high in circulations by the monitoring authorities Department of Film and Publication and given government advertisement. 

Those publication, known as underground newspapers among media professionals, also take advantage of duty-free newsprint import facilities.