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Bangladesh sets deadline for graft suspects
Emergency-ruled Bangladesh has set a deadline for voluntary disclosure of ill-gotten wealth by corruption suspects to evade imprisonment while it decided to toughen an anti-bribery campaign using "trap methods" at field levels.
- By Anisur Rahman, Correspondent
- Published: 00:01 August 9, 2008
Dhaka: Emergency-ruled Bangladesh has set a deadline for voluntary disclosure of ill-gotten wealth by corruption suspects to evade imprisonment while it decided to toughen an anti-bribery campaign using "trap methods" at field levels.
"Any person intending to disclose voluntarily the information regarding his corruption can file applications by September 1" to avoid imprisonment in exchange for confessions and surrender of their illegally earned wealth to the state, the newly constituted Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TAC) said in a statement late Thursday.
The statement, which came a week after the constitution of the quasi-judicial body, further said that the persons concerned could also file petitions seeking secrecy of the information they would provide while they ask for its intervention to evade charges and trial under Criminal Procedure Code.
In a simultaneous development, the country's powerful Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) decided to toughen an anti-bribery campaign using "trap methods" and offering "attractive awards" for tip offs for information on bribery or helping arrest of corrupt people red handed.
"The commission has taken the decision following reports of different studies and information from public hearsay that most of the incidents of corruption at field level are related to bribery," ACC spokesman Colonel Hanif Iqbal told reporters on late Thursday.
Petty corruption
The developments came as the Berlin-based global corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) in a recent report said despite a massive anti-graft crackdown on high profile corruption suspects, "petty corruption" at grassroots remained as it was frustrating the anti-graft campaign in Bangladesh.
President Iajuddin Ahmad on July 30 signed an order constituting the high powered TAC to provide corruption suspects with an avenue to avoid imprisonment in exchange of their confessions and surrender of their illegally earned wealth to the state a month after TI published its report.
But the interim government earlier said those who "crossed some sort of threshold", would not be allowed for appearing before the Commission.
The current interim government launched a massive anti-graft crime soon after its installation on January 11, 2007.
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