Man pays Tk 190,000 bribe to receive mothers’ pension in Jhalakathi
A man alleged that the district accounts officer in Jhalakathi took a bribe to release his mother’s pension. A certain Sagar Hossain claimed that the officer asked for Tk 250,000, and they eventually received the pension money and after paying Tk 190,000 in bribe.
This was one of the several allegations raised during a public hearing organised by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in Jhalakathi.
At the public hearing organised under the slogan “Durnitiner biruddhe tarunyer ekota, gorbo agamir shuddhota (Unity of youth against corruption, building the purity of tomorrow)”, people raised various complaints against officials and employees of government, non-government, autonomous, and service-oriented institutions regarding harassment, corruption, irregularities, and bribery.
Sagar Hossain alleged that his mother was a fourth-grade government employee, and, to receive her pension money, Jhalakathi district accounts officer Sajjad Hossain demanded Tk 250,000 in bribe. Eventually, they received the pension after paying Tk 190,000.
District accounts officer Sajjad Hossain, however, denied the allegation, saying, “I did not take any bribe. I sincerely helped her in receiving the pension.”
At the public hearing, citizens lodged over 100 complaints against 29 government offices including district secondary education office, local government engineering department, roads and highways department, district council, district accounts department, Jhalakathi pourashava, Nolchiti pourashava, settlement office, west zone power distribution company limited (WZPDCL), sub-registrar office, livestock department, and public health engineering department.
Among them, 74 complaints listed by the ACC were heard; some complaints were directly investigated, while some were resolved immediately.
Mir Enamul Haque, an English teacher at Sarengal Fazil Madrasah in Jhalakathi Sadar, alleged that upazila secondary education officer AKM Harun Or Rashid demanded a bribe of Tk 5,000 per person from nine teachers of the institution to get MPO enrollment bills. Later, the negotiation settled at Tk 2,000 per person.
Harun Or Rashid built a house in Barishal costing Tk 15 million. He, however, was absent at the hearing. The matter was later taken up for investigation and action was directed.
In the first session of the public hearing, ACC commissioner (investigation) Mian Muhammad Ali Akbari Azizi said, “If we return home with gifts or assets exceeding our income, how will we answer our children? We must remain honest ourselves and keep our families on the path of honesty as well. A commitment to stop corruption must be made, along with ensuring quality service delivery.”
Presided over by Jhalakathi deputy commissioner Ashraful Rahman, ACC director general (prevention) Md Akhtar Hossain, Barishal divisional director Mojahar Ali Sardar, and Jhalakathi superintendent of police Uzzal Kumar Roy were present.
ACC said that such public hearings are organised in the country to increase social awareness, ensure transparency and accountability of government and autonomous offices, improve service quality, prevent harassment of service recipients, and curb corruption.