Home ›› 09 Dec 2022 ›› Front
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) did not investigate more than 94 per cent of the total number of corruption allegations it received from around Bangladesh over the past six years.
An analysis of the data from the commission has found that ACC has conducted inquiries and investigations into only 5.69 per cent of the total allegations in these six years.
Data shows that a total of 1,07,257 graft allegations were received by ACC between 2017 and 2022 but the commission took only 6,107 of them into consideration to launch probes during this period, which means it did not investigate the rest of 94.31 per cent.
Until November 2022, the anti-graft watchdog received 18,019 allegations and it decided to probe only 840 of them. It sent 3,060 allegations to the concerned departments for taking necessary measures but did not launch any inquiry over 14,119 other complaints.
In 2021, ACC received 14,789 allegations but it investigated only 533 of them and sent 2,889 to concerned offices. It did not conduct inquiries over the rest.
In 2020, the commission received 18,489 complaints but it decided to probe only 822 allegations and sent 2,469 to the concerned offices while no action was taken over the rest of the allegations.
In 2019, ACC received 21,371 allegations but it investigated 1,710 allegations, sent 3,627 to concerned departments for taking necessary measures and no inquiry was conducted over the rest.
In 2018, ACC conducted inquiries over only 1,265 out of a total of 16,606 complaints and sent 1,404 to the concerned departments while no step was taken for the rest of the allegations.
In 2017, ACC received 17,983 allegations but it conducted inquiries against 937 and sent 377 to the concerned departments for taking necessary measures while no initiative was taken against the rest.
ACC officials on different occasions have said that they conduct inquiries after scrutinising most of the complaints received from different sources.
They, however, maintained that they cannot decide to probe a huge number of complaints as most of them fall outside ACC’s jurisdiction.
Over 5,277 probes stuck
Meanwhile, the ACC will observe International Anti-Corruption Day on Friday amid its failure to complete a huge number of inquiries and investigations in due time.
Data from the commission shows that a total of 5,277 inquiries and investigations were pending until October 2022. Of those, the deadlines of 881 have already expired.
As per ACC rules, an officer gets a maximum of 75 days to complete an inquiry and 270 days to complete the investigation of a case.
The deadline for 20.23 per cent of graft inquiries and the investigation time of 9.24 per cent of cases have already expired, according to the ACC data.
Apart from other cases, ACC also failed to complete probes into 56 cases itself filed in 2015 over the Tk 2,500 crore embezzlement of BASIC Bank.
Almost eight years have passed but the ACC is yet to complete the probe over the BASIC bank cases. Last month, the High Court gave ACC three months to complete the investigation of those 56 cases and said it will face legal action if it fails to do so within the deadline.
Like the BASIC Bank cases, the inquiries and investigations into many other graft allegations have also remained suspended due to the influence of powerful vested quarters, according to ACC sources.
Experts said the delays in investigations might benefit corruption suspects in the trial stage and such delays also create many scopes for the suspects to find a way out from the probe net.
However, ACC Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain told The Business Post that the inquiries and investigations were facing delays due to various reasons, including the collection of related documents and evidence.
He, however, said that the commission is giving its highest priority to completing the pending investigations within the deadlines.
