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Download PDF The government high-ups involved in corruption are escaping anti-corruption net, while only the low-ranked employees are making voluntary disclosures of their ill-gotten wealth, observes Truth and Accountability Commission (Tac) Chairman Justice Habibur Rahman Khan.
“The big fishes escape tearing the net and the small ones get tangled. The ill-gotten wealth confessed before the commission is so little because the graft-accused are just small fishes,” Justice Habibur said yesterday on low-ranked government officials’ disclosures.
The Tac chief said they are now considering extending the deadline to apply for voluntary disclosure for the second time till October 30 as high-profile graft suspects have not applied to face the commission yet.
Referring to the National Coordination Committee (NCC) investigators’ failure in proper detection of ill-gotten wealth, he said hearing found many of the government officials had confessed to having huge ill-gotten wealth before NCC “under circumstances.”
“Officials from top to bottom level in different government institutions have been involved in graft except a very few of them. Now only the low-ranked face the truth commission. What about the top-level officials? Has ACC or NCC filed cases against all of them?” the Tac boss asked.
“The graft-suspects have only two options — either to face the commission or to be accused in case,” Habibur Rahman said urging journalists to find out whether cases have been filed against all the top-government officials involved in graft.
Meanwhile, Tac also relieved four graft-accused sent by NCC of corruption charges. The commission was convinced that they don’t posses any ill-gotten wealth and is likely to give clemency report to the disclosure from today.
The Tac has so far heard 103 graft-accused, who confessed to having Tk 16.44 crore only. As many as 252 graft-accused including 218 government officials and eight businessmen have so far applied for disclosure.
Habibur Rahman said the Titas Gas graft-accused were sent to the commission only with an affidavit they gave before NCC, probably being self-intimidated, regarding ill-gotten wealth and NCC did not have enough time to make field-level visit about the matter.
“Where have the top officials of Titas Gas gone? Is there no corruptionist above the rank of meter reader there? We didn’t even get a graft-accused having ill-gotten wealth worth Tk 1 crore from Titas Gas,” he said.
He also expressed his surprise as none from Dhaka City Corporation, LGED, health and education sectors, forest and revenue departments applied to the commission, and a very few from BTCL and Rajuk applied.
Regarding a comment of former adviser Akbar Ali Khan, Habibur Rahman said, “Tac and ACC are not parallel organisations. One is complementary to another as one has the ability to inquire and investigate, while the other is quasi-judicial.”
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