Members of the civil society organisations have urged the Election Commission to look into the Panama Papers’ issue of Tabith Awal who is a mayor candidate of Dhaka North City Corporation elections scheduled to be held on January 30. The question came as Tabith, a mayoral aspirant from Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), did not mention anything on the allegation in his affidavit submitted to the Election Commission (EC). Hiding information, as per election rules, can lead to cancellation of nomination paper of an aspirant.
“The Election Commission could ask him the question (about Panama Papers) since he did not mention it in affidavit,” Dr Iftekharuzzaman, Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), told Bangladesh Post. “Names in Panama Papers do not mean that they are corrupt. But it calls for investigation. The Bangladesh Bank and the Anti-Corruption Commission should investigate that,” he said.
“But the Election Commission can ask him (Tabith) why you did not mention anything about Panama Papers? What is your explanation? If he cannot give any satisfactory answer, then his nomination paper can be cancelled,” the chief of the anti-graft watchdog said. The Panama Papers are 11.5 million leaked documents that detail financial information for more than 214,488 offshore entities.
The documents contain personal financial information about wealthy individuals and public officials that had previously been kept private. Reporters found that some of the corporations were used for illegal purposes, including fraud, tax evasion, and evading international sanctions, while offshore business entities are legal.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published the leaked documents in April 2016. Names of BNP leader Abdul Awal Mintoo and four of his family members, including his son Tabith Awal, were in the list. The Anti Corruption Commission of Bangladesh recently said they were looking into the allegations.
Lawyer and human rights activist Sultana Kamal, former advisor to the caretaker government, asked why the Election Commission did not take action against Tabith since he hid the information. “Election Commission can cancel his nomination paper. They get affidavits from the candidates. They can scrutinize and cancel that. Election Commission can do that if they work independently,” she told Bangladesh Post.
She said it is the responsibility of the ACC to investigate such allegations. “It’s their (ACC’s) duty. But they did not do it”.