Bangladesh News

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has prepared an amendment proposal to toughen up the ACC Act that will empower the anti-graft body to arrest corruption suspects without the court’s permission.

The ACC also proposed to the government to expand its jurisdiction to include greater number of offences and consider those as non-bailable and cognizable.

The commission will soon send the proposed amendment to the government, who, if satisfied after a quick examination, will promulgate an ordinance to amend the ACC Act, 2004, in absence of parliament, said an ACC official preferring anonymity.

The whole process to promulgate the ordinance might be finished within a week, said the official.

Sources said, currently Section 21 of the ACC Act states that an ACC-assigned official needs the court’s permission to arrest a person suspected of holding movable or immovable property in their name or others’ that is not compatible with their declared income sources.

The proposed amendment would add that during inquiries or investigations regarding sections 26 and 27 of the ACC Act, an ACC-assigned official can arrest a person without the court’s permission if the official is convinced that the accused has acquired more than his/her declared income.

Section 26 of the ACC Act directs people to declare their assets, while Section 27 of the act provides guidelines for sentencing persons found guilty of possession of property in excess of known sources of income.

Under the current ACC Act, the commission can act against only a small number of offences, as outlined in its ’schedule of offences’. There were a higher number of offences under the jurisdiction of the now-defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption.

The ACC has proposed the inclusion of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2003 in its ’schedule of offences’. Besides, the commission has also asked for the inclusion of 35 sections of the Penal Code in its jurisdiction.

The Foreign Exchange Regulations, 1947 could also be included in the commission’s ’schedule of offences’.

The current ACC Act also states that the ACC must formulate a number of rules for the commission’s operation. However, no rules have been formulated since the ACC’s inception in November 2004. This is largely to blame for the non-functional state of the ACC till the commission was recast in February this year.

Although the new ACC chairman and two commissioners have taken several important measures to combat corruption, no rules have been formulated yet.

In the absence of rules, a number of cases were filed against the ACC between November 2004 and February this year, challenging their actions against corruption.

The proposed amendment to the ACC Act includes a provision that would allow the commission to continue its operations based on decisions made during its meetings, until the necessary rules are formulated, sources said.

The current ACC Act clearly states that the commission itself would examine and decide whether someone would be asked for his or her wealth statement.

But between the first week of February and February 26, when the three top positions of the commission remained vacant following the resignation of its chairman and two commissioners, ACC Secretary Delwar Hossain issued a notice asking 50 corruption suspects to submit their wealth statements.

The proposed amendment of the ACC Act includes a section that states that the commission can give an ex-post facto approval to the secretary’s actions while the three top posts of the commission were vacant.

The amended ACC Act would be considered retrospectively effective from the day ACC Act, 2004 was implemented.

Currently the ACC has 90 investigation officers (IO), but questions have raised on the efficiency of a many of the IOs and it adds to the effect of manpower shortage in the commission, sources said.

The ACC is also likely to get a boost by increasing the number of IOs to 300 and the total number of ACC staff to 1,200 from around 700, sources said.

The government might empower the commission to confiscate and auction the properties of the 15 listed corruption suspects who missed the deadline to submit their wealth statements, ACC sources said.