ACC to probe wealth info of upcoming election candidates

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will scrutinise the wealth information of all candidates in the next general election, based on the asset declarations submitted to the Election Commission.

“As the 12th national parliament election is scheduled to be held late this year or at the beginning of 2024, the ACC will remain vigilant for a year. Especially, those who will contest the polls, their affidavits will be scrutinised,” said ACC Chairman Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah.

The ACC chief made the remarks at a press conference on the commission’s annual report 2022 at the ACC headquarters in the capital’s Segunbagicha Tuesday.

Reporters asked the commission about the wealth statements of different candidates and also said the income of several candidates increased manifolds over the last few years.

In reply, the ACC chairman said they will pay attention to the wealth statements of candidates who earned a huge amount of wealth within a short time.

Moinuddin Abdullah said, “Our eyes and ears will remain open this year ahead of the upcoming election. We will not be influenced while conducting our work. Our work will bring more dynamism to the ACC in the coming year.”

The president has asked the ACC to take a stricter stance against corruption, Moinuddin Abdullah also said. The ACC is working as transparently as possible, and the president has been informed about this.

When asked about the ‘money laundering’ of Dubai’s gold businessman Arav Khan, he said, “We do not have any such information. The ACC will work if they get any information in this regard.”

About the annual report, he said, “We have progressed a lot compared to previous years.”

In response to a query, ACC Commissioner Mozammel Haque Khan said the commission may not have met people’s expectations to check money laundering.

Describing the causes, he said this is not a task for the ACC alone, other agencies are also dealing with incidents of money laundering.

He said, “Still, we are trying to get the laundered money back. Many corrupt people have laundered money abroad, taking money out of financial institutions under the guise of business.”

Mozammel Haque added, “We have jurisdiction over only one type out of 27 types of money laundering offences.

“Other institutions have jurisdiction over the remaining 26 offences. However, people still have a misconception about what the ACC does. On our part, we have 100 per cent success in money laundering cases.”

Another commissioner, Md Jahurul Haque, said that the ACC has done a good job of confiscating illegal properties and recovering money for the state. It is more profitable to collect a fine than to send someone to jail, he also said.

Although not 100 per cent, the internal corruption of the ACC has decreased a lot, Jahurul Haque added.

The 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices was released on Monday night. The report stated that there are many complaints against security forces in Bangladesh for not taking any action against torture and corruption.

Even when members of the security forces are accused of human rights violations or involvement in corruption, the government takes very little action to identify, investigate, prosecute and punish them, the report said.

When asked about this report, Jahurul Haque said, “They gave false information about the commission.”

According to the ACC annual report, a total of 19,338 allegations were received by the ACC in 2022. After scrutinising, the commission decided to probe 901 complaints.

Out of 19,338 complaints, 3,152 complaints have been sent to various ministries for taking appropriate measures. A total of 224 charge sheets were approved, and 406 cases were filed by the ACC last year.