A High Court panel has noted that the Anti-Corruption Commission has not done enough to increase the speed of its investigations or submit reports in time.
In some cases, despite the existence of a special provision on the completion of investigations by the deadline, no action has been taken against investigation officials who have failed to do so, the court observed.
The observations were written by the High Court bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Mohi Uddin Shamim. The comments constitute a part of the judges’ decision announced verbally on Jan 24 and published on the Supreme Court website on Tuesday.
The senior judge, Md Nazrul Islam, wrote the 72-page verdict backed by Mohi Uddin Shamim.
The observations stem from legal tangles over a bribery case filed a decade ago. On Jul 26, 2011, Kurigram Rural Electrification Board’s Executive Engineer Mominur Rahman and Assistant Engineer Zahirul Islam were caught in the act of taking bribes.
Jahangir Alam, assistant director of the ACC's Rangpur district office, filed a case against the two officials the same day, reports bdnews24.com.
On May 8, 2019, Zahirul petitioned to be exempted from the case during the trial. On Jun 12 of that year, the Rangpur Special Judge’s Court granted his application and dropped the charges against him.
The ACC then filed a revision petition to the High Court against the decision to exempt Zahirul. After a preliminary hearing, the High Court issued a rule asking why the special court's order exempting Zahirul from the corruption case should not be quashed. After a final hearing, the High Court concluded on Jan 24 this year that the rule was appropriate.
The verdict also instructed that the case, still under trial at the special court, be completed within a year or as quickly as possible.
In the observations, the HC noted: “Nowadays we see through various media outlets that the Anti-Corruption Commission is busy recovering embezzled money rather than speeding up the legal process of major corruption cases. As a result, those involved are taking advantage of the situation to save themselves.”
“Recovering money is not the job of the Anti-Corruption Commission, nor is it empowered by law to do so. The recovery of money only shows that the accused has embezzled or laundered it.”
In many cases, the ACC has not filed a complaint or an investigative report within the stipulated time, a clear violation of its statutes, the court said.
According to the ACC law, the court noted, the commission is required to complete its investigations within 180 days. If the investigation is still incomplete at the end of that period, a new investigation officer is to be appointed, who will have 90 days to complete their investigation.
The ACC’s own regulations also note that investigating officers should complete their investigation within 45 days of their appointment to the role and may seek an additional 30 days extension of the deadline if they can show proper cause.
The ACC is also empowered to take departmental action against any investigating officer for incompetence in accordance with these regulations.
“We have noted that many cases have been filed regarding corruption in banks, financial institutions and government agencies but the ACC has not taken any positive steps to ensure that these cases are investigated or tried in a speedy manner,” the verdict said. “And we have received no satisfactory explanation of this situation from the commission.”
If the commission’s action or a lack of it undercuts the purpose of the law and it goes silent on the prevention of corruption in the country, every effort will go to waste, the court said.