ACC receives 60,000 graft complaints

The Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) decided to forward "trivial" allegations brought against officials and employees of different ministries to the ministries concerned for dealing the matter as around 60,000 corruption allegations have so far been submitted to the commission.
Several ministries have already started receiving these "trivial" allegations forwarded by the ACC.
If a ministry insisted the commission on investigating any corruption allegations, the commission would ask the ministry why it is not able to handle the matter itself.
The ACC decision came after it decided to reduce the number of its zonal offices to 20 from 54 and focus its drive against institutional corruption from December this year.
"We are forwarding allegations to different ministries as the ministries themselves can handle the issue well," said ACC Secretary Mukhles Ur Rahman during a routine meeting with newsmen at the ACC head office.
"In case any ministry sends an allegation for investigation to us, we will ask the ministries why they sent it without performing their duties," the secretary added.
Sources in the commission said the ACC from November this year will not work based on zones rather it will work on different issues and allegations, considering their importance and seriousness.
The ACC yesterday also approved two first information reports (FIR) to be submitted against former additional deputy inspector general Shahid Ullah Khan and his wife, and former lawmaker Ali Reza Raju in connection with inconsistency between their wealth and known sources of income.
The ACC secretary said Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal General Secretary Zafrul Hasan and former lawmaker Hedayet Ullah submitted their wealth statements on October 9 and yesterday.
The secretary said their work in court would increase in the coming days as the number of cases on trial is increasing.
Meanwhile, at least 10 corruption-suspect forest officials from the posts of deputy forest conservator to the chief forest conservator have so far submitted their wealth statement to the commission. The commission is conducting investigations regarding the statements, including the one submitted by forest boss Osman Ghani.
"There is nothing left in the country which can be called forest. We are dealing with the matter with strong hands," said Mukhles.
"We have issued notices calling for their wealth statement and they are submitting wealth statement in the zonal offices," he added.