The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has found inconsistencies in accumulating wealth by former ministers and sitting lawmakers, who were quizzed by the commission recently, says ACC Commissioner M Shahabuddin.
“We have found inconsistencies between their (ministers and lawmakers) affidavits and given statements to the commission and already issued notices to submit their wealth statements,” he said while talking to reporters at his office on Wednesday.He said the commission would take necessary action against all responsible persons after scrutiny of their wealth statements.
The Commissioner further said the ACC has prepared a sort list of some political leaders including the leaders of Bangladesh Nationalist Party. The leaders were kept under ACC surveillance from last caretaker government, he added.
Replying to a question, he said the present government and the commission are able to curb the corruption compared to the previous government.
“We are not conducting our investigation against any government. People know batter which government are mostly responsible for rising corruption,” he said.
The ACC began the process to investigate into the wealth of seven former and sitting ministers, state ministers and lawmakers on January 21 based on their wealth statements they submitted before the Election Commission ahead of January 5 parliaentary polls.
The affidavits of the former ministers and lawmakers showed an unusual increase in their wealth in the past five years.
An analysis prepared and submitted by Citizens for Good Governance the wealth statements of ministers and lawmakers showed an increase by up to 32,985 per cent in their income in the period.
According to the affidavits, the incomes of ministers increased by 243 per cent and their wealth by 247 per cent while the income of state ministers increased by 464 per cent and their wealth by 459 per cent.
ACC sources said the commission would gradually investigate into the accumulation of wealth of all lawmakers.
In the first phase, enquiries will be conducted against former health minister AFM Ruhul Haque, former state minister for housing and public works Abdul Mannan Khan, former state minister for water resources ministry Mahbubur Rahman, lawmaker of Cox’s Bazar-4 Abdur Rahman Badi, Dhaka-14 Aslamul Haque Aslam, Rajshahi-4 (Bagmara) Enamul Haque and Satkhira -2 Abdul Jabbar. – Staff Reporter
