ACC to launch probe after Eid

The Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) will initiate primary investigations of the latest 35 corruption suspects after the Eid.
ACC Secretary Mukhles Ur Rahman told journalists yesterday that the commission is drafting new rules for appointing new ACC officials and employees, in an effort to increase the manpower of the commission.
"The list of 35 corruption suspects came to us from different law enforcement agencies to assist the commission in its anti-corruption drive, and we will initiate primary inquiries into all the new suspects," said Mukhles during a routine news briefing in the ACC office in the afternoon following which he had iftar with the reporters on the premises.
The commission will take decisions about the new suspects based on the reports of the primary inquiries.
"The commission will initiate the next step of the investigation if the primary investigation finds merits for it," the ACC secretary said adding, "The commission will keep carrying out its routine work regarding the suspects as it had in the cases of previous suspects."
The names of BNP leader also Dhaka City Corporation Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka, and Awami League leaders Tofail Ahmed and Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury appeared on the new list of 35 corruption suspects, following the publication of a previous list of 80 graft suspects in the media on September 27, after it had been made available to them.
With the publication of the latest list, the number of alleged high-profile corruptionists stands at 177. Earlier, the names of 142 graft suspects were published by the ACC in three phases. The first list was published on February 18 this year with the names of 50 graft suspects on it.
The ACC secretary also apprised the newsmen of the present state of the cases against the 142 suspects.
The ACC earlier served notices to 141 corruption suspects asking them to submit wealth statements, and 117 of them complied. The ACC filed non-submission cases against five of the 141, and it is preparing four more non-submission cases against four of the remaining suspects who did not submit their wealth statements.
The commission is now investigating 37 of the 141 suspects and it readied first information reports against 33 others. Charge sheets were submitted against 19 other suspects while 10 others are being tried in the court currently. The courts also delivered verdicts against nine persons of the corruption suspects.
Apart from the 141, the commission on its own effort submitted charge sheets against 23 other suspects including Mosaddak Ali Falu, Nasiruddin Pintu, and a joint tax commissioner.
The commission could not take any action against one of the corruption suspects as he had filed a writ petition with the High Court.
The ACC secretary also said all the steps regarding appointment process and required qualifications for ACC appointments will be made public in the media once the draft of the appointment rules is approved by the authorities concerned.
"As different ministries are involved with the process of approving the new rules, it will take a while," he said.
Replying to a question regarding the proposed Truth Commission, the ACC secretary said, "This matter is still under process. Until the government finalises the matter, everything will run as usual."