The country will be free of corruption if there is no unholy alliance between the bureaucrats and politicians, said Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Chairman Iqbal Mahmood on Thursday.
"If the government officials are on the right track, speak the truth, and highlight what is right, no one will be able to commit corruption," he said.
He also said, "If the unholy alliance persists, news of graft incidents will not be revealed no matter what strategy you take."
The ACC chairman said these at a view-exchange meeting organised as part of celebrating the commission's 14th founding anniversary at its headquarters in the city.
ACC Commissioner AFM Aminul Islam, ACC secretary Dr Shamsul Arefin, ACC director general (Enquiry & Investigation) Mustafizur Rahman, among others also spoke on the occasion.
Mentioning that the Sarkari Chakori Ain, 2018 (Civil Service Act) was enacted but yet to get effective, Mr Mahmood said there is no need to take prior permission by ACC to detain corrupt and bribe-taker government officials.
And if it comes to effect, the commission will sit to analyse the act and will do what is necessary, he said.
According to the act, it is mandatory for law enforcement agencies to take prior permission from the government to arrest its employees accused in criminal case, before a court accepts the charges against the person.
Talking about the commission's failures, its chairman said the commission has not been successful for the reason it was established; though, it hasn't been entirely failed, rather failed partially.
The key reason behind the failure is the commission's inability to put pressure on the government to improve good governance system.
ACC has been sending set of recommendations to respective ministries after identifying source of grafts and irregularities, he said.
But, whenever the commission talks about reform in the system, the bureaucracy considers ACC as its opponent while it isn't of that character, he added.
The ACC chief said, "We don't like self-criticism, we don't do it and we can't even think about it. Not just us, it is a weakness of our country's people to criticise own self."
"Besides, we don't admit the truth; if we don't accept truth, how would we go in the path of success," he added.
Mr Mahmood said the commission has been collecting graft information against corrupt government officials.
"We are waiting for an opportune moment to take actions against them," he added.
Meanwhile, ACC chairman underlined incapability of finishing inquiry and investigation in time a failure of the national anti-graft authority.
He also said the commission hasn't been able to gain people's trust due to the influence of 'black money' and 'muscle power'.
When asked about ACC's role in barring flow of black money in the upcoming national election, he said the commission firmly believes that the country's people will not elect a person who gained illegal wealth and black money.
However, stating that the commission will not make any comment on the next election as it isn't ACC's concern, he said, "Politics is not our thing and we don't understand it either, though we know that nothing is out of politics."
But the commission will continue its action against accumulation of illegal wealth, the ACC boss said, adding, "ACC will try to detect the people who attempt to influence polls with illegal money."
The anti-graft watchdog will also scrutinise the affidavit submitted to the election commission by the election runners, he added.
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