ACC opens probe against 6 NBR officials, including NBR Reform Unity Council president

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Sunday launched an investigation into six officials of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) over allegations of accumulating illicit wealth by facilitating tax evasion for taxpayers in exchange for bribes.

The six NBR officials facing investigation are: AKM Badiul Alam, member of income tax policy division; Hasan Muhammad Tarek Rikabdar, additional commissioner of audit, intelligence, and investigation directorate; Mirza Ashiq Rana, additional commissioner of tax region-8, Dhaka; Monalisa Shahreen Sushmita, additional commissioner of tax region-16, Dhaka; Sadhan Kumar Kondu, additional commissioner of Dhaka south customs, excise, and vat commissionerate; and Mohammad Morshed Uddin Khan, joint tax commissioner of BSS Tax Academy.

ACC deputy director (public relations) Akhtarul Islam said an investigation opened against the six NBR officials for allegedly acquiring wealth beyond their known sources of income through corruption and irregularities.

According to NBR sources, at least five of the officials under investigation are directly involved in the ongoing movement within the NBR.

Hasan Muhammad Tarek Rikabdar is the president of the NBR Reform Unity Council, the platform that is waging the NBR protest, while Mirza Ashiq Rana and Shahreen Sushmita are vice presidents of the Unity Council.

NBR officials and employees have been staging protests over the implementation of revenue reform initiatives since 12 May. As a result, a stalemate hit the agency, which is responsible for revenue collection on behalf of the government, disrupting its services.

On 12 May, the government issued an ordinance abolishing the NBR and the Internal Resources Division (IRD), creating two separate divisions: Revenue Policy Division and Revenue Administration Division. The goal is to separate policy-making tasks, like determining tax rates, from tax collection activities.

Economists, researchers, and business leaders have long been advocating for reforms in the revenue sector. One of the conditions of the $4.7 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was to establish separate entities for revenue policy and revenue collection.

NBR officials do not object much to the formation of the two divisions. They, however, want appointment preferences for revenue sector officials in the newly-formed divisions. The government said it will appoint competent individuals, which may bring more officials from the administrative cadre.

The protesters also demanded the resignation of NBR chairman Abdur Rahman Khan, alleging that the he is ignoring NBR officials and employees in the reform process and is instead suppressing and harassing those involved in the movement.

Meanwhile, the government issued a statement today, Sunday saying that it has decided to declare all categories of NBR jobs as essential services, as well as, at the same time, instructed the protesting officials and employees to return to work, warning that failure to do so would lead to strict measures in order to protect the people and the economy of the country.