THE Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is the government’s arm to fight back corruption in public and private places but when its own officials get involved in cheating there is no place to go any more. News reports in The New Nation on Monday said a syndicate made a fortune of around Taka 1.0 crore from some job seekers with the promise to give them employment in the anti-graft body. The report said the syndicate is mainly comprised of outsiders but they are backed by people from within the organization. They have allegedly swindled over taka three to four lakh from each contender who did not get a job at the end.
The matter came to the notice of the ACC when two members of the syndicate were arrested in the city for cheating job seekers using the name of the bigwigs of the anti-graft body. It broke open when a job seeker, who was desperately looking for a job over the past four years, went to the ACC head office in the city sometime ago to join his new post. In fact he was holding a false appointment letter and it later turned out that he was not alone, but one of the many who gave money duped by false promises of getting jobs to different government, semi-government and private organizations.
The report quoted the ACC officials as saying that these frauds have used the logo of the organization and forged the signature of its secretary while issuing the appointment letters. Their agents are active across the country to lure unemployed youths and take money from them to give jobs. Previous news reports had also showed such a group had collected money from job seekers using the name of the former ACC Chairman. But the latest report said cheating is going on unabated raising questions about effectiveness of the intelligence agencies and the ACC itself to stop such frauds.
The ACC sources said it had put advertisements last year to recruit some employees after completing procedural formalities. The syndicate might have used that advertisement for cheating the job seekers using their link with some people inside the organization. As reported, the ACC team during a drive seized passports, credit cards, debit cards, fake appointment letters and a good amount of money from these two cheats showing the wide scope of their cheating abilities.
The new disclosure has shocked the nation but it is not something new at all.
We know government officials at sensitive places and political leaders routinely get involved in corruption and irregularities to make illegal fortunes. So also various syndicates are also functioning around such organizations to work as facilitators and often make the job seekers fools. Corruption and frauds are destroying the very foundation of the nation and we can’t let it go unabated. We hold the view that the ACC must sternly deal with its own members who are involved in the cheating to save people’s confidence in the organization as an effective body to combat corruption. Otherwise public institutions like the ACC will not be able to serve the nation.
