Revitalising ACC

Proposed amendments must not remain in the files only. Photo: Amirul Rajiv

While talking to an English-language daily on December 10, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Chairman Golam Rahman said: "The Commission now cannot work to curb institutional corruption because of lack of manpower and experts."
He added: "The Commission is waiting for the proposed amendment to the Anti-Corruption Commission Act, in which it has sought authority to include officials, including experts in different sectors and institutions, on deputation into its various teams to deal with corruption in different institutions."
Corruption is generally divided into two forms: (1) institutional corruption; and (2) non-institutional personal corruption. Institutional corruption involves the despoiling of the moral character of an institution.
When a ministry deliberately furnishes distorted information in the parliament session, it is institutional corruption. Similarly, it is institutional corruption when a political party deliberately submits wrong statement of its annual income and expenditure to the Election Commission.
Non-institutional personal corruption is corruption of persons outside institutional settings. Corruption popularly means abuse of power by a public official for personal gain; but it also includes personal gain by a private individual.
While taking of bribe by a public official is corruption, the bribing of a cricketer by a bettor to throw away his wicket in an international game is also corruption, although the cricketer and the bettor do not hold public offices.
The ACC was established to prevent corruption, both institutional and non-institutional, inquire and investigate into the offences determined by the Act, and file and conduct cases on the basis of investigation and inquiry.
But these goals could not be achieved due to a number of factors which include, amongst others, lack of political will to strengthen the Commission by the immediate past BNP government as well as by the ruling AL-government, inaction of the Commission in allegations against the party in power, the Commission's unwillingness to institute suo moto inquiry, absence of a capable prosecution team and lack of research activities on prevention of corruption.
It may not be denied that during the period of the last caretaker government the Commission sometimes acted oppressively against corruption suspects. But, it is also equally true that the reconstitution of the Commission by the post-1/11 caretaker government and amendments made to the ACC Act-2004 provided some degree of dynamism and vibrancy, aiming at making corruption a punishable offence and challenging the culture of impunity.
With the manpower and the expertise that it had, the Commission started formulating recommendations to curb institutional corruption in consultation with different institutions. The question may arise that if the Commission could make such strides during the period of the caretaker government, then why can it not do so now with more or less the same manpower and expertise.
The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2010 released by Transparency International (TI) on October 26 showed that Bangladesh failed to achieve improvement over the last year. In a scale of 0-10, Bangladesh scored 2.4, the same as in 2009, and occupied 134th place among 178 countries featured in this year's index.
The latest survey by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) shows rampant corruption in our police (79%), civil service (68%), political parties (58%), judiciary (43%) and parliament (32%).
Section 33 of the ACC Act provides that the Commission shall have its own prosecution unit consisting of the prosecutors required to conduct the cases to be investigated by the Commission and tried before the special judge. Until the appointment of its own prosecutors, lawyers temporarily appointed by the Commission shall conduct its cases. The Commission badly needs a capable prosecution team, but the government seems reluctant to facilitate it.
It appears from the ACC chief's disclosure that the Commission has sought authority to include officials, including experts in different sectors and institutions, on deputation into its various teams to deal with corruption in different institutions. The commission is "working on a limited scale in different institutions to curb corruption" till its proposed amendments to the ACC Act are accepted by the government.
Law Minister Shafique Ahmed differs with the ACC chairman, saying: "As corruption is not institutional corruption because individuals in the institutions are engaged in such corruption, the Commission should not face any legal barrier in dealing with them." He further said that the law ministry was examining a bill comprising the proposals of the Commission and the recommendations made by a committee headed by the additional secretary of the cabinet division to make the commission more effective.
The people in general, and the civil society and the media in particular, were happy with the creation of the ACC. The Commission's proposed amendments to the ACC Act as well as solutions to other problems faced by the Commission must be acted upon at the earliest so that it can discharge its assigned functions and responsibilities efficiently. This will enable Bangladesh to stand with her head high as one of the least corrupt countries in the world.

M. Abdul Latif Mondal is a former Secretary.
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