Graft complaints keep rising
ACC handovers 2017 report to president
UNB
Although the number of allegations received for enquiry by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in 2017 was the highest in 4 years, it came with marked declines in a number of other indicators as to the efficiency and efficacy of the public anti-graft agency, reports UNB.
A perusal of the ACCs Annual Report for 2017, which was submitted to President Abdul Hamid at Bangabhaban on Sunday by an ACC delegation led by its Chairman Iqbal Mahmood, reveals even as the number of specific complaints increased, the number of enquiries completed, filing of cases, approvals of chargesheets and number of investigations- so-called preventive activities- fell.
Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB) Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman told UNB It is difficult to say whether corruption has increased or decreased by just one years statement. However, the reasons for the decline in preventive activities to end corruption should be found out.
ACC received a total of 17,953 complaints in the 2017 while the corresponding number was 12,990 in 2016, 10,415 in 2015 and 12,500 in 2014 according to the annual report of the ACC. Review of allegations across the preceding four years reveals that the allegations lodged with the commission in 2017 amounted to the highest in 4 years.
Compared with the number of allegations in 2016, the increase in allegations received in 2017, from 12,990 to 17,953 - was 4953 or 38 percent.
This was above the increase in allegations received in 2016 from 2015, which amounted to 2575 for 25%. The commission is considering this uptrend as indicative of the increase in public trust reposed upon the Commission.
It may be mentioned that the ACC opened a hotline for complaints in the second half of 2017 - July 27 to be precise, which led to a huge increase in the number of complaints.
However some other key indicators of the ACCs performance reflected a downward slide in 2017. The number of enquiries addressed by the ACC amounted to 1445 in 2017, down from 1766 in 2016. The total number of cases filed was 273 in 2017, while the corresponding figure was 359 in 2016. And the number of completed investigations decreased to 965 in 2017, from 2271 in 2016.
