Two officials of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) have been withdrawn from their work place in Jashore and Kurigram for allegedly taking bribe from a police official and a businessman respectively. The ACC issued an order in this regard on Wednesday.
Mohammad Mustafizur Rahman, assistant director of Jashore district office, ACC and Shudip Kumar Chowdhury, deputy assistant director of Kurigram district office, have been asked to leave their respective offices by Thursday.
Of them, Mustafizur Rahman was filmed while taking taka 76 thousand as bribes from a businessman named Shamsul Haque at his office. He demanded taka 20 lakhs from the businessman. The video clip went viral on social media, creating a sensation among the people.
On the other hand, another accused ACC official Shudip Kumar Chowdhury allegedly demanded bribe taka amounting to seven lakh from Alamgir Hossain, an assistant inspector of Bogura district police. The cop paid him (Shudip Chowdhury) taka five lakh and eighty thousand to settle down the issue. The ACC official became furious as he did not get taka seven lakhs from the cop and filed a corruption case against him.
The ACC must take stringent action
against its corrupt officials and ensure
exemplary punishment for them
Many officials of ACC are facing departmental and external investigations over their alleged links to various corruption and irregularities. The officials have allegedly accumulated illegal wealth and misappropriated huge amount of money by giving advantages to corruption suspects during ACC investigations.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina repeatedly reminds her government’s zero tolerance policy against corruption. But some government officials and employees do not pay heed to her warning. Corruption, irregularities and mismanagement still exist everywhere in different forms, creating a suffocating situation in all the government offices and organisations. A section of officials and staffs are engaged in corruption and irregularities, harassing and humiliating the service seekers in many ways ever day. General people do not get service without bribe.
The ACC will have to launch “cleansing drive” against corrupt officials inside its office at first. The identified corrupt officials of ACC must be fired on the spot. Otherwise, the fight against corruption cannot be carried out by the ACC. The ACC must take stringent action against its corrupt officials and ensure exemplary punishment for them.
