ACC held hostage to politics and bureaucracy: Iftekharuzzaman

The Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) is held hostage to politics and bureaucracy, remarked Iftekharuzzaman, chief of the anti-corruption reform commission, Monday.

He said that on one hand there’s political influence in play at the ACC and there’s bureaucratic influence on the other. The agency fails to work in a free and impartial way because of these two influences. So, the ACC needs to be completely overhauled.

The anti-corruption reform commission had their first meeting at the Transparency International Bangladesh office in Dhanmondi area of the capital yesterday, Monday.

Chief of the commission Iftekharuzzaman made these remarks at a press conference after the meeting.

Members of the commission, professor at the public administration department of Dhaka University Mobasser Monem, lawyer Mahdin Choudhury, professor at the law department of Dhaka University, Mahbubur Rahman and Supreme Court advocate Farzana Sharmin were present in the meeting. Meanwhile, another member of the commission, professor at the University of London, Mushtaq Khan was connected online.

Iftekharuzzaman said there are institutional limitations to appointment in vital positions including the post of commissioners at the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). A significant portion of the appointment at the ACC comes on deputation. Other employees at the ACC cannot hold those posts.

Iftekharuzzaman said that they tried to comprehend the responsibilities, jurisdiction and mandate of the commission during the first meeting. The two aspects of ACC’s jurisdiction are resolution and prevention.

One is bringing those who are involved in corruption to accountability and justice. And, the second is adopting preventive measures to stop corruption from happening in the first place. He added, they will work towards the reform keeping those two concerns in their minds.

Iftekharuzzaman, who is also the executive director of TIB that works towards preventing corruption also said that a significant reformation among the sort required for ensuring freedom and impartiality, is to review such laws and regulations that obstruct the ACC from working.

It’s not a right conception that corruption can be brought under control through legal reforms only. Alongside the overall way of governance, a sort of mindset has been created that one can always get away with committing corruption. They will form a series of recommendations on how can that be thwarted, he added.

Iftekharuzzaman stated that it’s the duty of the commission to provide guidelines, recommendations and suggestions on how the ACC will become effective. Mentioning that they have started with their efforts form Monday, he said that they are hopeful about submitting a report to the government after finishing their work within the next 90 days or by 7 January of next year.

In response to the question whether a political government would be able to appoint people of their choice at the ACC if they wanted after the reforms have been carried out, Iftekharuzzaman said they will work on the issue so that there’s no recurrence of political influence.