Bangladesh News

Law and Information Adviser Mainul Hosein yesterday said no one on the latest list of 80 corruption suspects will be arrested now.

The businessmen on the list will have to pay penalty but will not be arrested because the government is considering a soft stance towards them so that they can continue their businesses, Mainul told reporters at the secretariat.

The 80 were listed only after allegations of corruption against them were proved true “to some extent” during preliminary inquiries, said Maj Gen (retd) MA Matin, chairman of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) on serious crimes.

In the wake of a debate over the legitimacy of the list, which had no signature for authentication, Matin yesterday confirmed that the names the newspapers published are “almost correct”.

The authorities concerned will officially announce the list after the chief adviser’s approval.

Journalists on Thursday received an unsigned copy of a list containing names of 80 high-profile corruption suspects, including BNP leader and Dhaka city Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka, five former BNP ministers, Awami League (AL) leaders Tofail Ahmed and Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury and former caretaker government adviser Justice Fazlul Haque.

“So far as I know, no one will be arrested now on the basis of the notice,” Mainul told reporters, adding that the government is pondering about “doing something” for the businessmen. “They [businessmen] will have to pay penalty. The government is weighing means so that they can continue their businesses,” he said.

Confirming the names on the latest list, NCC chief and Communications Adviser MA Matin said a list of 222 corruption suspects, including the latest 80, will be published soon. The 142 names published earlier by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will be there on the list.

The 80 new names have been put on the list after completion of preliminary inquiry, Matin told journalists after a review meeting on the development projects of Bangladesh Railway at the Rail Bhaban.

“Evidence collected so far has proved the allegations against these 80 persons true to some extent,” he said.

In reply to a question he said, “We are not going to publish any new list further because we want to remove the worry in people’s mind. It is also because the number of cases against these 222 suspects will be several hundred and we want to complete all these by December.

“But it does not mean that nobody will indulge in corruption later and none will be tried,” he clarified.

A total of 360 cases have already been filed against the 142 corruption suspects whose names were published by the ACC earlier.