Six Titas Gas officials yesterday confessed to having ill-gotten wealth worth only about Tk 10 lakh before the Truth and Accountability Commission (Tac) whereas taskforces’ investigation revealed some of their colleagues became millionaires through corruption.
Sources say the six are from the ranks of meter reader, assistant accountant and junior-level officer who claimed before the commission that they don’t have much ill-gotten wealth for disclosure.
Ironically, a taskforce of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) to Combat Corruption and Serious Crimes, tasked to investigate graft in Titas Gas, in February this year found that over 150 supervisors and meter readers became millionaires by tampering with bills, depriving the government of crores of taka in revenue income.
The NCC sent the list of the six Titas officials upon receiving their application to make voluntary disclosures about their ill-gotten wealth. The Tac sources, however, did not disclose what was the NCC report regarding corruption of the six sent along with the list.
Sources say as Tac does not have any authority to conduct investigation into disclosures of graft-suspects, many of them are likely to slip through by confessing to having a lesser amount of wealth in comparison with the huge wealth they have amassed through illegal means.
“The graft-suspects facing Tac are confessing to the wealth they are unable to conceal anyhow. They have more ill-gotten wealth which could be unearthed through investigation, but they will just slip through by using Tac and confessing to a lesser amount,” an Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) official observed.
“Moreover, ACC also decided that all the investigation against corruption-suspects facing Tac through ACC will remain closed as the Tac ordinance confers. It would help the clever graft-suspects to take a chance and be free from corruption charges by returning a lesser amount of their ill-gotten property,” he added.
Of the 136 Titas staff confessed during Taskforces questioning to being involved in amassing wealth by illegal means, 124 returned ill-gotten wealth worth about Tk 350 crore to the taskforce state on February 5.
The Taskforce launched a drive at Titas Gas after discrepancies surfaced with the wealth statements submitted by the officials. The Taskforce interrogated 450 former and present staff, 136 of who admitted to their involvement in corruption and promised to hand over their illegally amassed property to the government.
The astounding findings of Taskforces include the case of former meter reader and former CBA leader Abul Kashem who was found to own property worth Tk 300 crore. A former sales assistant who used to draw Tk 4,000 salary a month amassed Tk 2,100 crore.
Like them, meter reader Mahbubur Rahman was found to own property worth Tk 250 crore, technician Habibur Rahman worth Tk 200 crore, former receptionist Olifa Akhter, who had also been promoted illegally to the post of deputy general manager of the IT department, worth Tk 30 crore.
The taskforce also found that each of the remaining implicated Titas staff owns property worth at least Tk 1 crore.
The Taskforce investigation revealed that corrupt Titas Gas staff amassed the illegal property through multi-pronged corruption including theft, abuse of power, taking bribes in exchange for giving jobs to incompetent people and nepotism.
Meanwhile, three more government officials and two of their wives have applied to ACC to face Tac.
Following voluntary disclosure of information by the corruption-suspects, Tac has so far primarily ordered 40 people to return about Tk 14.85 crore to the state.
Once the graft-suspects deposit confessed money to a certain account of the Bangladesh Bank, Tac would then pass the final order announcing clemency to them.
Categories: Bangla, Bangladesh, Bangladesh News
