Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh Awami League (AL) General Secretary and the Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Wednesday claimed that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is an independent body and the government is not interfering in its activities.
“The government has no hand in the ACC’s investigation against top BNP leaders. ACC functions independently though no public institutions could do it independently in the past,” Quader told newsmen.
The minister was replying to a query of reporters during a meeting organised by the AL in the capital’s Dhanmondi, to chalk out programmes marking Mujibnagar Day.
He said it a day after country’s main opposition political party Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) accused the ruling party of using ACC as a weapon to wipe out the opposition.
In reply to a question, the minister said, “ACC summons ministers and ruling party MPs also. ACC would not be able to summon them had the government interfered in its function.”
The ACC has recently launched a probe into an allegation of ‘suspicious’ bank transactions by eight top BNP leaders in a month. BNP, however, said ACC has launched the investigation as part of a government’s ‘foul play’ to mislead people and weaken the party’s movement, alleging that the AL is using the anti-graft watchdog as a weapon against the opposition.
Bangladesh Awami League (AL) General Secretary and the Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Wednesday claimed that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is an independent body and the government is not interfering in its activities.
“The government has no hand in the ACC’s investigation against top BNP leaders. ACC functions independently though no public institutions could do it independently in the past,” Quader told newsmen.
The minister was replying to a query of reporters during a meeting organised by the AL in the capital’s Dhanmondi, to chalk out programmes marking Mujibnagar Day.
He said it a day after country’s main opposition political party Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) accused the ruling party of using ACC as a weapon to wipe out the opposition.
In reply to a question, the minister said, “ACC summons ministers and ruling party MPs also. ACC would not be able to summon them had the government interfered in its function.”
The ACC has recently launched a probe into an allegation of ‘suspicious’ bank transactions by eight top BNP leaders in a month. BNP, however, said ACC has launched the investigation as part of a government’s ‘foul play’ to mislead people and weaken the party’s movement, alleging that the AL is using the anti-graft watchdog as a weapon against the opposition.
