Mahabub Alam :
Allegations have been raised against some 70 former officials of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and now defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption (BAC) for avoiding appearance before the Dhaka Divisional Special Court in connection with testifying in 56 graft cases as witnesses. The court has recently sent a notice to the ACC enlisting the names of the officials.The court sent several notices asking them to appear before the court. But they did not comply with the notices of the court, sources said.
According to ACC service guide, it is a duty of the retired employees and officers to testify before the court if needed.
In this backdrop, the top ACC officials said, the unresponsive attitude of the ex. officials has caused a great delay to be disposed of the cases filed in 1991, 1994, 1997 and 1999.
The number of former officials, who avoided testifying, in other courts could not be ascertained.
The ACC was defeated in most of its cases those disposed of in the last few years. And the main reason behind the defeat was irregular and negligence mood of former officials, said an ACC officer.
As per statistics of ACC, it failed to prove its justification in the courts 56 percent of 674 cases filed between 2009 and 2013. Besides, the accused in 381 cases had been acquitted while the ACC won in 293 cases.
From January to September in 2014, trials in 146 cases were completed. Of them, the accused in 57 cases were convicted and the accused in 89 acquitted.
When contacted yesterday afternoon, ACC Chairman Md Badiuzzaman admitted the fact. “We have got a notice from the court. But most of the former ACC officials do not eager to appear before the court. Most of them are elderly and ask for conveyance to go to court”.
Despite the good will, the Commission failed to pay them enough money as transport and other costs, he said, adding, “We have proposed the government to hike the fund in this purpose”.
The ACC boss, however, expressed his dissatisfaction over the issue.
