ACC brings 13 charges against Sharif

The Anti-Corruption Commission at a press conference said that Sharif Uddin had been removed from his post as he did not abide by the service rules, not under the pressure of influential people.

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) secretary Md Mahbub Hossain has discarded the allegations that ACC’s deputy assistant director Sharif Uddin was fired under the pressure of influential people as their names came up in his investigation of corruption. He said Sharif was dismissed as he did not abide by the service regulations.

He said this during a press conference at the head office of the ACC in the capital’s Segunbagicha area. He said the allegations that Sharif was fired under the pressure from influential people as their names came in some cases in Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar was not true.

The ACC gave an official statement regarding the dismissal of Sharif Uddin without any notice amid various controversies on this issue. Explaining the circumstances under which Sharif had to be removed, the ACC raised 13 allegations against him.

All of these allegations are based on Cox's Bazar and Chattogram. Most of these allegations have come up in various media outlets including Prothom Alo in the last few days and Sharif has also responded to these allegations.

According to the charges brought up against Sharif by the ACC, Sharif Uddin used to conduct inquiries and investigation at whim and did not care about the rules and regulations. He had seized some 33 bank accounts officially and unofficially without the permission of the court, which embarrassed the commission.

The secretary brought several allegations against Sharif including keeping Tk 9.63 million in his possession for 16 months which the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) had seized from the house of a surveyor in Cox’s Bazar (involved in land acquisition) without informing the commission, brutally beating up a person (CIP Md Idris) related to a case at his office for his statement, ignoring the commission’s order by not attending office after being transferred from Chattogram to Patuakhali, filing a writ petition in the High Court against the transfer order and publishing news regarding this in newspapers, not handing over investigation related documents before leaving the Chattogram office, not following the rules of the commission in the investigation of land acquisition case in Cox's Bazar district, arranging a job for his younger brother Shihab Uddin at the Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company (KGDCL) by pressurising the authorities after getting the responsibility of investigating the irregularities of the company and arranging a job for one of his relatives named Shahabuddin in driver’s post at the same company. The ACC secretary also alleged that Sharif has illegally amassed money and harassed various people by summoning them through notices in the name of investigation.

In his written statement the ACC secretary further said that for the last three days, various print and electronic media have been publishing misleading news about the sacked deputy assistant director. He said if someone defies the rules of the commission, rules of service, office management, there will be no no other option than taking a hard line.

None of the allegations brought up against Sharif is proven. The ACC says that according to the service rules, an ACC official must be transferred after every three years. But the ACC has many officials who have been working in the same place for more than three years. Then, why is such a decision taken in the case of Sharif? The ACC secretary did not give any answer to this question of the journalists.

In reply to another question, the ACC secretary said, “The ACC is a statutory legal entity. Our investigators follow a set of rules. We have the proceedings of our provisions as well as the directions of the court. How could he freeze 33 bank accounts officially and unofficially? If you are in a service then you must abide by the service rules. You cannot act whimsically.”

Asked why Sharif Uddin was evaluated as "excellent" in the ACR (Annual Confidential Report), secretary Mahbub Hossain said, "He probably joined in 2014. The newcomers are usually positively evaluated for their work to motivate them.”

“You never know whether you will be in the same position as today in the future. Therefore, his sequential assessment must be taken into account. It's a part of the job. You just cannot consider that one assessment overlooking the rest.”

On 16 February, the ACC chairman issued an order to dismiss Sharif Uddin in accordance with section 54 (2) of the ACC's service rules. In protest of this, the officials and employees of the organisation staged a human chain in front of the ACC head office the next day. The matter has been under discussion since then. In this regard, Sharif Uddin told Prothom Alo that the “power behind the curtain” had worked behind his dismissal.

Meanwhile, 10 lawyers of the Supreme Court have issued a letter seeking necessary orders including security of Sharif Uddin’s life. They submitted the letter to the High Court bench of justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukdar and justice Md Mostafizur Rahman and registrar general of the Supreme Court on Sunday.

It contains a request to consider the letter as an application (writ) as per Article 102 of the Constitution as per the rules (amended) of the High Court.

Shishir Monir, one of the 10 lawyers, told Prothom Alo that the letter was sent with the help of various media reports about the sacked ACC official Sharif Uddin. The letter was sent in accordance with the 10 rules of Chapter 11A of the amended High Court Rules of 2012. According to the procedure, the court may hear the letter as an appeal.

In the letter, they said that after reading the reports in the media, they felt that the issue was very sensitive and involved severe injustice and inconsistencies related to public interest. Such an incident stands in the way of the current government’s anti-corruption drive. The multifaceted actions taken against corruption will wane through these sorts of acts.