The chief of national anti-graft watchdog has lamented that the government has not responded to the constitutional body’s efforts to check large-scale graft.
On Monday, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Chairman Iqbal Mahmood said, “We told the government that we can help stop corruption in large-scale projects, but we did not receive much of a response.”
He came up with the remarks while talking to the journalists in front of the ACC headquarters in Dhaka’s Segunbagicha.
The ACC boss, however, said he remains undeterred and that the ACC was working on its own motivation.
According to him, “Preventing corruption is a continuous process. The government is trying. We only mentioned the Cabinet Division so that we can prevent corruption before it occurs. It takes time to explain.”
ACC sent a letter in 2016 to the cabinet secretary identifying various areas in which there was scope for corruption in procurement, hiring, project acquisition and implementation in government departments.
Mr Mahmood said the letter included research showing that GDP growth could increase by about 2 per cent if corruption was eliminated.
He, however, denied that corruption in the private sector had increased recently.
“No, I do not think it is true,” he said in response to a question from the media.
According to him, “Scandals are becoming less frequent in the banking sector. I believe the banking sector is being overseen properly and that this will continue. We believe the bank boards are working well and this has caused the sector to grow 16 per cent.”
The ACC chief also called for all candidates in the upcoming elections to disclose their financial resources.
Asked, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam said that the letter was sent to all the ministries and divisions asking for their help in identifying ‘grey areas for corruption’ and in fixing the issues.
Bdnews24 said no information was found as to how that work had progressed.
