Though more than four months have passed after the law minister ordered all his ministry's officials and employees to submit wealth statements to his office in a bid to tackle corruption, only one person has so far complied with his diktat.
'Nobody, apart from a senior assistant secretary of the ministry, has so far submitted a wealth statement to the minister's office. It is a clear violation of the official order,' said a senior official of the law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministry.
On March 10 law minister Shafique Ahmed ordered all his ministry's employees and officials, as well as those working for the departments and agencies under the ministry, to immediately re-submit the wealth statements that they had originally submitted in 2008 during the interim government's tenure.
'I will look into the matter. The ministry will issue show-cause notices to those officials and employees who have not submitted their wealth statements till now,' Shafique Ahmed told New Age on Saturday.
The law ministry's initiative was a response to widespread allegations against individuals working for the ministry that they had amassed a huge number of assets through irregularities and corruption, said officials.
In January 2011, in an official notification, the minister had asked the secretaries to the legislative and parliamentary affairs division and the law and justice division to ensure, in keeping with the Government Servants (Conduct) Rules 1979, that all officials and employees submit their annual wealth statements in December.
But the employees of the ministry were reluctant to do so, claiming that they had done this in 2008, and the amended rules only made it mandatory to submit statements showing an increase or decrease in their assets every five years, said law ministry officials.
The Awami League, in its 2008 election manifesto, pledged that the powerful people would have to submit wealth statements annually.
It also said that the wealth statements and the sources of income of the prime minister, members of the Cabinet, parliamentarians and of their family members would be made public every year.
But the pledge is yet to be translated into reality.
Only three days ago, on June 22, Prime minister Sheikh Hasina told the Parliament that the authorities would, if necessary, scrutinise the wealth statements of the civil servants to stop corruption in government offices.
The Government Servants (Conduct) Rules 1979 state that every five years each official and employee must submit to the government, through the usual channels, an account of their assets showing any increase or decrease in property.
'It is a clear violation of the conduct rules if government officials and employees do not submit their wealth statements every five years,' said another official at the establishment ministry, adding that government servants should disclose their liquid assets when they are required to do so by the government.
The interim government of Fakhruddin Ahmed asked its officials and employees to submit wealth statements to their ministries and departments as the government did not have proper records of the wealth of its officials and employees.
However, the wealth statements were never scrutinised.
Since the ministries do not have any mechanism to retain such statements, this aspect of the conduct rules was never enforced by any government in the past, said officials.
There are about 7,000 officials working in the law ministry and its departments, with the total number of the country's public servants numbering about 12 lakh, said officials.
Source : New Age
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