The New Nation - Internet Edition

AS reported in the media recently, the Truth and Accountability Commission (TAC) will soon summon some top brass bureaucrats in the administration and ask them to explain their involvement in graft. 'We have come to know a lot of things about the involvement of top bosses of certain authorities in graft by interrogating low-level employees and will serve notices to them soon', the TAC chairman Justice Habibur Rahman Khan was quoted as saying at a press briefing. The three-member commission has so far interrogated a total of 126 individuals, mostly lower-grade employees who sought clemency by making voluntary disclosure of their graft pledging to return their ill-gotten property. In fact, they gave a lot of information about the practices in government offices. So, the commission is going to summon some top officials to take them to task for crimes, if any.

The TAC chairman, however, did not specify whom the commission is going to summon. But, he said, there are quite a few offices where bribery is frequent according to the people's perception. The commission chairman expressed the optimism that a few of the big fishes would have to appear before this quasi-judicial body following the confession by some of their subordinates. He sternly warned that corrupt officials, whether senior or junior, big or small, must get punishment. The Truth and Accountability Commission requested the Anti-Corruption Commission to scale up its anti-corruption drive to bring the big fishes to justice. So far the TAC received a total of 266 applications from individuals, of whom eight are businessmen, 229 government servants, 22 spouses of government servants. The Anti-Corruption Commission referred 83, the National Coordination Committee 167, and the courts three other individuals to the commission which asked 126 petitioners to deposit 18 crore to the state exchequer.