Tac asks 11 govt officials to return Tk 5.69cr
The Truth and Accountability Commission (Tac) has ordered 11 government officials as of September 2 to deposit to the state exchequer about Tk 5.69 crore, which they voluntarily admitted before the commission to having amassed by illegal means.
Sources said eight more government staff yesterday confessed to the Tac to having amassed illegal wealth worth over Tk 1 crore.
They include former divisional forest officer of Chittagong Zafrul Hasan, a project director and a deputy project director of Chittagong Port Authority, a sub-registrar of the registry department, and a former chief engineer of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority.
Tac Chairman Justice Habibur Rahman Khan said the 11 absolution seekers are officials of the Roads and Highways Department, a sub-registrar from registry department and a chief engineer of Sylhet City Corporation.
He, however, did not disclose their names and the details of their ill-gotten wealth.
The Tac chairman said the government officials have been directed to deposit the money to a Bangladesh Bank account.
"Until September 2, we ordered 11 government staffs to deposit over Tk 5.69 crore to the state exchequer as we are convinced that these persons are repentant of their misdeeds and they confessed to having amassed the wealth beyond known sources of income," said Justice Habib at a regular press briefing yesterday.
"These government officials have promised in the name of god that they will not indulge themselves in corruption anymore," he said.
"As we do not have any authority to investigate whether disclosures made by the corruption-suspects are true or not, we are matching information disclosed by them with the investigation reports conducted by National Coordination Committee to combat crime and corruption [NCC] and Anti-Corruption Commission [ACC] against them," he said, adding that no major discrepancy was found yet.
He also said these 11 government officials had deposited Tk 21 crore to the state coffers at different times before the Tac was formed.
Sources, meanwhile, said the Tac also held hearing of eight more government officials yesterday and that they confessed to having accumulated over Tk 1 crore beyond their known sources of income.
Besides taking statements from them, the commission is considering NCC and ACC investigation reports against them.
The Tac is presently directing absolution seekers to deposit liquid money equivalent to their illegal immovable properties since the commission does not have any specific provision for confiscating those.
"We are working on how to confiscate immovable property and a decision in this regard would be made soon. Confiscation of immovable property is a complicated process," said Justice Habib.
The Tac chairman said the commission would pass the final order granting mercy to those who are voluntarily disclosing their ill-gotten wealth when they deposit the money fixed by the Tac with Bangladesh Bank.
The Tac began hearing of the corruption-suspects on September 1 and extended the deadline for seeking mercy up to September 30.
Justice Habib said 199 corruption-suspects have so far applied to face the Tac for making voluntary disclosure of information about their ill-gotten wealth.
"We have not received applications from any politician; turnout of businessmen is also low and far behind expectation," he added.
Of the 199 absolution seekers, 44 applied through the ACC and 151 through the NCC while four applied directly to the Tac. Of them, 173 collected the Tac forms required to be filled in but only 98 have so far submitted the forms to the commission.
Meanwhile, former chief engineer of Sylhet City Corporation Saiful Islam, who faced the commission on September 1, was asked to appear before the commission once again on Sunday.
The Tac began functioning on August 3 with a five-month tenure.
Comments