Staff Reporter :The police are going to get more power to deal with cases of forgery and misappropriation at individual level, while the power of Anti- Corruption Commission [ACC] has been curtailed shelving its earlier power to probe corruption in non-government sector.The Cabinet on Monday in principle gave approval to Anti-Corruption Commission Act-2015 [Amendment] with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.After the law is enacted, the individuals will face judicial magistrate courts for forgery and misappropriation, instead of trial under ACC laws. The government and bank employees, however, will be tried under the ACC laws.Officials said, the government has planned to amend laws to fight frauds as the number of investigating cases have increased in large number in the ACC. So, the new provision in the law would bar the ACC from dealing with forgery and cheating cases. On the other hand, the amendment will empower police to investigate fraud and forgery cases, which were being handled until now by the ACC. The government hoped, with the amendment of the law, the ACC’s workload will decrease while the trial and investigation of other important ACC cases would get more speed, the officials said. “The forgery and cheating cases in government properties and fraudulent acts by the staffs and officials of the government and state-owned banks will be dealt with by the ACC. But from now on, these cases will be under the jurisdiction of the police,” Cabinet Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told reporters after the cabinet meeting held at the Secretariat.He said, “Thousands of forgery and cheating cases are pending with the ACC and it is facing difficulties to dispose of the cases. Police have been showing unwillingness to deal with the forgery and cheating cases as these cases are lodged under the ACC Act, resulting delay in disposal. So, the Commission proposed exclusion of these sections from the ACC Act.””The cases which are lodged under the ACC jurisdiction are tried in the special judge court and it requires more time. The cases which are being tried in the special judge court will be shifted to the trial court with the existing progresses,” he stated.Similarly, the process of the investigation into the cases in the non-government sectors will be handed over to the police authorities concerned, he added. The draft of the law proposes that the ACC would hand over all under-investigation and under-trial cases related to cheating and forgery to the competent authorities like judicial magistrate courts. But the similar cases which are under primary inquiry of the ACC would be disposed of automatically.Meanwhile, the Cabinet also approved the draft of the ‘National Nutrition Policy, 2015’ aiming to make it a time-befitting one.”The National Nutrition Policy has been framed in consultation with various ministries, divisions and experts in line with the government’s Vision 2021,” the Cabinet Secretary said.The goals of this policy include improving the nutrition condition of common people, especially mothers, children, teenage girls and underprivileged section of society, controlling malnutrition and expediting national development through improving lifestyle and living standards.Yesterday’s Cabinet also gave nod to the draft of the Air Service Agreement titled ‘Agreement between Canada and Bangladesh on Air Transport’ to be signed between Bangladesh and Canada to enhance bilateral air connectivity.Both the countries could run three passenger and three cargo flights by their designated airlines each week under the proposed agreement.
