The Anti-Corruption Commission will soon revive all corruption cases against the Roads and Highways Department officials, who had been exempted from prosecution by the then Truth and Accountability Commission (Tac) during the last caretaker government's tenure.
Corruption cases against 270 people, mostly government officials, were stalled midway after the accused made confessions to the Tac and surrendered their ill-gotten wealth. The last caretaker government formed the Tac, which is now defunct, as part of its anti-graft crackdown.
The Supreme Court in May announced the Tac illegal, paving the way for the ACC to revive the cases against them.
Nearly 40 RHD officials, mostly accused in corruption cases filed by the ACC, voluntarily disclosed their ill-gotten wealth before the Tac and got exempted from prosecution on surrender of the wealth.
"The RHD staff will surely be the first target of the commission, as we prepare to resume all graft cases stuck midway after the formation of the Tac," said ACC Chairman Ghulam Rahman.
The ACC chief said the latest move is made against the backdrop of rampant corruption in the sector that has left the country's communication system in a shambles.
The ACC now waits for the release of the full text of the SC judgement to proceed with the matter.
Some senior ACC officials said the sorry state of country's road network calls for immediate action against the RHD officials.
Shahab Uddin, who stepped down recently as the RHD chief engineer, is one of them.
He was given clemency by the Tac on confession of amassing ill-gotten wealth and surrender of Tk 3 lakh.
His wife also sought immunity from the Tac depositing a small amount to the state exchequer.
Shahab Uddin resigned on August 18 amid allegations of plundering funds. The condition of countrywide road networks of about 21,000 kilometres continued to worsen since he took office in December 2009.
He came under fire after filmmaker Tareque Masud, chief executive officer of ATN News Ashfaque Munier and three others died in a road crash in Manikganj on August 13.
There have been widespread corruption allegations against another RHD officer, Arifur Rahman Zinnah, former director of Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway project. Arifur, who retired about two months ago, had been exempted by Tac from prosecution on confession of graft and surrender of ill-gotten wealth.
The four-lane highway project that has been in discussions for the last one and a half years is yet to start.
Preferring anonymity, a top ACC official said the government is responsible for the sorry state of the country's road network as it reinstated and promoted the self-confessed corrupt RHD officials.
Shahab Uddin retired as additional chief engineer on November 18, 2009. But the present government extended his service by two years under the freedom fighter quota and promoted him to RHD chief engineer ignoring strong opposition from within the RHD.
Rampant corruption in the RHD was exposed during the tenure of the last caretaker government.
RHD officials often misappropriated money by falsely showing that hundreds of day labourers were engaged in maintenance and repair of roads, the ACC found in its probe into institutional corruption.
An enquiry is underway into the approval of 261 Priority Maintenance Projects to prioritise maintenance of roads considering the financial constraint, without floating any tender and advertisement.
A three-member ACC team led by its Deputy Director Benajir Ahmed has been conducting the investigation since July.
The contractors took 20 percent more money than the estimated budget by illegal means after completing the projects during the tenure of the previous BNP-led government.
Graft prosecutors, however, are not that hopeful about bringing the corrupt RHD officials to book, as hardly any case filed against them during the last caretaker government's tenure could bring punishment on them.
The graft suspects rather obtained bail in such cases and some even got promoted immediately after the AL-led government assumed power.
Source : The Daliy Star
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