The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has taken necessary preparations to establish 13 more integrated district offices (IDOs) to gear up its activities.
The decision was taken subsequent to an administrative order from the Cabinet Division and a recent meeting of the commission, according to a notification signed by ACC secretary Dr Md Anwar Hossain Howlader.
The new IDOs will be launched in the districts of Narayanganj, Gazipur, Madaripur, Gopalganj, Kishoreganj, Jamalpur, Naogaon, Thakurgaon, Kurigram, Chandpur, Bagerhat, Jhenaidah, and Pirojpur.
However, the anti-graft body had taken the decision back in December, 2018 but the initiative didn't progress further due to bureaucratic complications, said an ACC source.
According to the latest decision, the ACC will set up the new IDOs and start their operations from July 01, 2022.
Meanwhile, an IDO at Cox's Bazar was already in the process of starting operation, an ACC official said, adding: "Hopefully, it will start functioning by the beginning of next year."
The ACC notification, issued on November 01, also requested the Cabinet Division and relevant ACC departments to take necessary steps to employ the required workforce for the new offices.
Currently, the commission has 22 IDOs across the country apart from its headquarters in the capital.
The ACC was established in 2004 through the Anti-Corruption Commission Act, 2004 and by dissolving the then Bureau of Anti-Corruption (BAC).
The former BAC had offices in all 64 districts, but when it was transformed into the commission, its activities were streamlined into 22 district offices for better coordination, the ACC official said.
The existing 22 IDOs are: Dhaka (02 IDOs), Faridpur, Mymensingh, Tangail, Chattogram (02 IDOs), Rangamati, Cumilla, Noakhali, Sylhet, Habiganj, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Bogura, Pabna, Kushtia, Khulna, Jashore, Barishal, and Patuakhali.
At present, the commission's workforce consists of 989 people, including a chairman, two commissioners, and a secretary against a total allocated position of 1,274. At present, some 285 positions are vacant.
However, the commission has applied to the government to double its workforce as it is quite tough to check enormous corruption in a country of over 160 million people.
The ACC official said that following the appeal, the government has doubled the workforce positions to 2,146, but the ACC is yet to start recruitment activities to fill the newly created positions.
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