Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) on Wednesday called upon the newly appointed chairman and commissioners of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to proactively disclose their income and asset statements for ensuring accountability and transparency. TIB also encouraged the ACC high-ups to clarify their positions on corruption allegations and disclose any political affiliations, said a press release. Dr. Abdul Momen appointed chairman of ACC The Bangladeshi branch of Transparency International stressed the need for executing their obligations with honesty and integrity firmly, in line with the anti-discrimination movement's core values and the massive sacrifices that created scope for building a "New Bangladesh." Commenting on the roles and responsibilities of the new ACC leadership, TIB’s Executive Director Dr. Iftekharuzzaman said, “At this pivotal moment of the nation’s history when ACC is at the main focus of public expectations, we call upon the top leadership of the ACC to proactively disclose the following (matters) as examples of pledges of their own transparency and accountability.” The issues include information regarding income and assets of their own and immediate family members held under direct or beneficial ownership; consistency between income from legitimate sources and accumulated wealth or assets; steps to be taken to verify the accuracy, adequacy, and consistency of income and asset statements by an independent auditor, stance on any published or unpublished allegations of abuse of power, irregularities and corruption during their professional careers; details about any direct or indirect partisan political allegiance; and a formal declaration of preparedness to voluntarily resign and undergo due legal investigation in the event of any inconsistencies in the above matters. TIB calls for non-stop social movement against corruption Dr Iftekharuzzaman urged the newly appointed ACC Chairman and Commissioners to remain fully committed and respectful to the core values of the anti-discrimination movement and the vision of the "New Bangladesh." He also called on them to pledge their unwavering commitment to fulfilling their responsibilities with the utmost integrity.

A Dhaka court today issued arrest warrants for BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman and his wife Dr Zubaida Rahman in a graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md Asaduzzaman court passed the order after taking the charge sheet against them into cognisance. The court also directed the officer-in-charge (OC) of Cantonment police station to submit a progress report regarding the arrest warrant on January 5 next year. Read more: Graft case against Tarique, Zubaida: HC asks trial court to dispose of case soon On June 26, High court ordered the judicial court to dispose of the case as soon as possible. The HC also rejected the couple’s writ petitions, challenging the corruption case against them for acquiring wealth beyond their known sources of income and concealing information in their affidavits. As both of them remain fugitive, the court rejected the writ petitions – saying these are not acceptable. The court also withdrew the stay order on the trial proceedings of the case filed against them. Read more: Verdict on Tarique-Zubaida’s whereabouts on June 26 On September 26, 2007, ACC lodged a complaint with Kafrul police against Tarique Rahman, Zubaida and her mother Iqbal Mand Banu for amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 4.81 crore and concealing the information. In the same year, the High Court issued a rule suspending the trial proceedings in the case after hearing a petition filed by Zubaida. The HC rejected the rule in 2017 and asked her to surrender before the court within eight weeks.

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will not consider cricketer Shakib Al Hasan as its goodwill ambassador. “Although he is still the goodwill ambassador as per contract, the contract will not be renewed. He will not be part of the upcoming International Anti-Corruption Day programs,” Commissioner of the investigation department of ACC, Mozammel Haque, said today. Read more:The times Shakib Al Hasan found himself in controversies Haque was speaking to media. According to the rules, ACC still has a contract with him. But Shakib Al Hasan is now considered “controversial” on various issues. ACC does not want to associate itself with any controversial person, Haque said.  Read more:Shakib’s company involved in share manipulation, DSE investigation finds All-rounder Shakib was made the goodwill ambassador of the anti-corruption watchdog to campaign against corruption in Bangladesh. ACC made the announcement on February 11, 2018.

The High Court today asked the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to inform on the steps taken by Bangladesh Bank against its 5 accused deputy governors and other officials involved in the embezzlement of Tk 3,700 crore. The court asked the ACC to inform on the steps within October 27. The HC bench of Justice Nazrul Islam Talukder and Khijir Hayat verbally pronounced the order, after taking a recently published report in daily newspaper ‘Kalbela’ into cognizance. Read: Banks must display citizen charter to ensure transparency: Bangladesh Bank Lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan represented the ACC during the hearing while Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin represented the state. DAG Amin Uddin said the bench asked the lawyers to read the report and present their statements before the hearing began today. According to the report, 249 officials of Bangladesh Bank, including five deputy governors, were involvement with the financial scam of Bangladesh Industrial Finance Company Ltd (BIFC) and International Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (ILFSL). With the help of these officials of three departments of the central bank, Prashanta Kumar Halder and Major (retd) Mannan embezzled a hefty amount of money which was revealed in a report of a high-powered probe committee formed at the directive of the High Court. Two reports in this regard have already been submitted to the central bank’s governor, it said. Tk 3700 crore was embezzled, taking loans from 2 capital market-enlisted financial organizations: BIFC and ILFSL. Out of this, from ILFSL, Tk 3,130 crore was taken against the name of PK Halder, who is currently imprisoned in India, and his various organizations. From BIFC, Major (retd) Abdul Mannan, Secretary General of Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh, and his organization embezzled Tk 600 crore. This plundering was going on for several years but the insiders of these organization and the responsible officials of Bangladesh Bank remained silent about the matter, said the report. Read:Govt securities to trial trading in secondary market next week: Bangladesh Bank Governor Three deputy governors, 6 executive directors, 11 general managers (GMs) and 15 deputy general managers (DGMs) and 124 other officials at various levels who served in the Financial Institutions and Markets Department of Bangladesh Bank from 2009 to 2020 were held responsible in the report. Besides, a total of 51 people including two deputy governors and executive directors of the Bank and Financial Institutions Inspection Department have been held responsible. Also name of two deputy governors, eight executive directors, five GMs and a total of 29 officials of the financial institution inspection department came up in this report.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Tuesday asked master operator( Mechanical Division) of Chattogram Port Authority Azam Khan  and his wife to submit their wealth statements. Deputy Director of ACC Public relation office Muhammad Arif Sadeq told UNB, a notice was issued in this regard. Read:Ranjit Kumar Roy in ACC's crosshairs The notice sought statements declaring all immovable or movable properties acquired in their own names and their dependents. The source of income and the detailed information on how those were acquired will have to be submitted to the ACC within 21 working days of receiving the notice.

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) chairman Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah has said that no news should be published which favours corrupt people. He said this in his speech as the chief guest at the inauguration of the office of journalists' organization Reporters Against Corruption (RAC) in Segunbagicha on Tuesday. "You should bring up the truth. Do not write anything that harms the country and nation," he said. Read: ACC investigation into Grameen Telecom underway Alongside, he asked the journalists to check the information again and again before writing anything. "Before making news, think how much it is good for the nation, everyone should take care that the news does not go in favor of the corrupt," he also said. Commissioners- Mozammel Haque Khan, Zahurul Haque and ACC Secretary  Mahbub Hossain, RAC President Mohiuddin Ahmed and General Secretary Towhid Sourav were present.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against a food inspector of Terkohada upazila of Khulna and his wife on charge of concealing their wealth information. Assistant Director of ACC's Jashore District Office Md Mosharraf Hossain filed the case on Sunday. The case was filed under the Anti-Corruption Commission Act-2004 at the court of Narail Senior Special Judge. According to the case statement, food inspector Md Ashrafuzzaman and his wife Rokeya Sultana concealed information of assets worth Tk 1.16 crore.  Read: ACC sues police inspector, wife in Chattogram Assets worth Tk 1.09 crore were also found beyond Ashrafuzzaman ‘s known source of income. Ashrafuzzaman joined the post of Food Inspector on July 27 in 2010. Later he was transferred to different places.  However, various complaints were lodged against him during his tenure as the in-charge in Jashore food warehouse from 2018-20. In an inquiry against the couple, the ACC found evidence of providing false information by them and concealing information about their wealth. This couple submitted a statement to the ACC showing wealth worth over Tk 53.13 lakh. But ACC found evidence of acquisition of illegal wealth worth Tk 1.16 crore. 

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has asked the joint secretary of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs ministry Abul Kalam Azad to submit his wealth statements. Deputy Director of ACC Public relation office Muhammad Arif Sadeq told UNB that notice in this regard has been issued. Read: ACC approves charges against 3 former, 1 current Biman high-ups The notice sought a statement of  all his immovable or movable properties acquired in the names of his own, his wife and daughter. The source of income and the detailed information on how those were acquired will have to be submitted to the ACC within 21 working days of receiving the notice.

Chattogram Divisional Special Judge Court has fixed June 20 to hear arguments against former Officer-in-charge (OC) of Teknaf police station and death row convict Pradeep Kumar Das and his wife Chumki Karan in a graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Sunday noon. Judge Munshi Abdul Majid gave out the order. Pradeep and his wife Chumki were present in the courtroom during the order. Also read: Graft case: Ex-OC Pradeep’s wife sent to jail on surrender The lawyers of the accused Sameer Dasgupta and Ratan Chakrobarti said that the court has heard testimonies from two witnesses, Chairman of Boalkhali upazila’s Saroatoli union Belal Hossain and Member of ward no 9 of the same union Abdul Jalil, and fixed the date for further arguments today. According to court sources, the court proceedings of the graft case started on December 15, 2021 through framing of charges. The accused then applied to the High Court (HC) seeking acquittal from the case, which was rejected by the HC. The graft case was lodged by the Assistant Director of ACC’s Chattogram-2 office Md Riaz Uddin on August 23, 2020. The ACC filed a charge sheet to a Chattogram court on July 26, 2021, which was accepted by the court on September 1, 2021. Pradeep and Chumki surrendered before the court on May 23, 2022. According to the chargesheet, Pradeep built a six-storey house in Chattogram city’s Pathorghata area in his father-in-law’s name to conceal money earned illegally. Later, Pradeep’s father-in-law donated the building to his daughter Chumki. Though there are documents of this handover, the building is currently owned by Pradeep and Chumki. The chargesheet also says that the commission business and the fish-farming business that Chumki had shown in her income tax return documents were fakes. The ACC haven’t found any existence of these businesses during their investigations. Also read:ACC’s graft case: Recording testimony of ex-OC Pradeep suspended The fake documents show the ways in which Chumki has helped Pradeep to conceal the latter’s ill-gotten money. The charge sheet provides a list of assets owned by Pradeep and Chumki, including a six-storey house, another house in the city’s Sholashohor area, 45 bhori gold ornaments, two cars and an apartment in Cox’s Bazar. The ACC had produced a total of 29 people as witnesses, among whom 24 provided testimonies.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Wednesday caught a high official of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) red-handed while taking bribe from a company in Dinajpur.  The detainee is Mostafizur Rahman, deputy inspector general of the DIFE Dinajpur region. Also read:HC directs ACC to identify those involved in money laundering through e-commerce Deputy Director of ACC Public Relations Office Muhammad Arif Sadeq told UNB that Mostafizur demanded Tk 80,000 as bribe from Ishan Agro Food of the district for the renewal of its license.  Being informed through ACC hotline 106, a team of the anti-graft body, led by Mohammad Moazzem Hossain and Ahsanul Kabir Palash, deputy directors, ACC,  Dinajpur,  caught him red-handed at noon while taking the bribe at his office, added Arif Sadeq.