ANTI-CORRUPTION Commission Chairman Iqbal Mahmud has said that ACC lags behind the institutional capacity and its investigation is not up-to-the mark. For that reason, it becomes hard to ensure punishments in all the hundred percent cases filed by it. He made the remark on Wednesday during a meeting with a three-member delegation of the US State Department headed by its Technical Director Robert Looker (Strengthening of Law, Programme). The ACC boss further said the level of conviction may differ considering the time, person and country but there is no alternative but to ensure proper punishment of culprits in the final judgement.
We know, among many electoral pledges of the ruling government related to the strengthening of the institutional capacity to promote good governance and to fight against corruption; making the ACC independent and effective was the most important. The commitment has been repeated many times, which is why, we understand, the Cabinet Committee was formed to recommend ways to make the ACC independent and effective. But miserably, the ACC has failed to earn the expected level. Still, the conviction rate in graft cases filed by the ACC is around 70 percent. Even in Bhutan, the conviction rate in graft is about 90 percent. So, the frustration in ACC chief’s voice is nothing astonishing.
The ACC aiming to develop its officers’ skill has taken several training programmes from different sources, including Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). If these costly training programmes could be arranged in the home country it would save both money and time. Undoubtedly, checking corruption is still a real challenge for the government though the ACC is trying its best to fight it out.
In most graft cases, the big shots are seen involved directly. It’s a real problem for ACC as most often the culprits try to use their political connection and money power to escape punishment. We think, catching a culprit and punish him in the graft case is not the only way to free a nation from overall corruption. For that, it will need change of individual’s mentality as well as social outlook at first. There is no way but to practice honesty at every sphere of life.
