The government has brought five more officials of the now-defunct National Board of Revenue (NBR) under the scanner as the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) started an investigation against them on Thursday, raising the tally to 16.
The ACC has accused them of acquiring illegal assets beyond a known source of income through corruption, nepotism, and irregularities.
They allegedly gave opportunities to various individuals and organisations to evade customs, VAT and, in particular, income tax while working at various stations for several years and by benefiting themselves and damaging the state.
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The five officials are Benapole Custom House Commissioner Md Kamruzzaman, Dhaka East Customs Excise and VAT Commissionerate Commissioner Kazi Mohammad Ziauddin, Income Tax Department Additional Tax Commissioner Sehela Siddika, Excise Commissioner Md Mamun Mia and Tax Inspector Lokman Ahmed.
Of them, Sehela Siddika is the Secretary General of the NBR Reform Unity Council, which led the recent movement against the ordinance that divided the NBR into two divisions.
Earlier, the government declared the NBR services โessentialโ and ordered protesting officials back to work under threat of disciplinary action. However, it was forced to form an advisory board to settle the demands put forward by the NBR officials.
On July 1, the ACC said they started another investigation against Abdul Rashid Mia, Additional Commissioner of the NBR’s Large Taxpayer Unit, NBR member Lutful Azim, NBR CIC former Additional Director General Mohammad Alamgir Hossain, Deputy Tax Commissioner of Dhaka Tax Region-16 Mohammad Shihabul Islam and Joint Commissioner Md Tarek Hasan.
On June 29, the ACC disclosed the names of six officials who were under scrutiny over the same allegation.
The officials are AKM Badiul Alam, member of the NBR’s Income Tax Policy Department, Mirza Ashiq Rana, Additional Tax Commissioner of Dhaka Tax Region-8, Mohammad Morshed Uddin Khan, Joint Tax Commissioner of BCS Tax Academy, Monalisa Shahreen Sushmita, Deputy Tax Commissioner of Dhaka Tax Region-16, Hasan Tarek Rikabder, Additional Commissioner of the Audit, Intelligence and Investigation Department and Value Added Tax Department, and Sadhan Kumar Kundu, Additional Commissioner of the Customs, Excise and VAT Commissionerate.
Since the August 5 changeover, the unconstitutional interim government has used the ACC to withdraw cases against Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus and other allies of the government.
On the other hand, many cases have been filed against the politicians, government officials, and businessmen linked to the Awami League. The ACC has also appealed to courts to issue bans on their travelling abroad and freeze the bank accounts of the targeted persons.
However, the ACC has been mysteriously silent and sluggish in its progress with the investigation into corruption allegations against several private secretaries of three advisers and a top leader of Yunusโ National Citizen Party (NCP).
Journalists, rights activists and retired civil servants have expressed frustration over the ACCโs activities since last August.
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Executive Director and chairman of the ACC Reform Commission, Dr Iftekharuzzaman, thinks new appointments should have been completely suspended before their recommendations were implemented.
โIf such appointments start being made before the recommendations are implemented, it will be embarrassing for the ACC. Then we have to assume that there are some circles within the interim government who want to make the ACC more ineffective before the reforms, so that the reform activities cannot be implemented later. This should be considered as a conspiratorial move.โ
Former ACC Director General (Law and Prosecution) Moidul Islam has observed that despite the change in government, there has been no practical change in the ACC.
โAlthough the employees of the administration cadre have not gained experience in investigating cases during their service lives, they have been serving the ACC on deputation for years. Although the deputation is for three years as per the rules, many have been staying for 7/8 years, violating the rules and regulations.โ
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