Ghulam Rahman new ACC chief

The government appointed Ghulam Rahman, chairman of Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission, as the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) chief yesterday, twenty-eight days after Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury stepped down from the post.
The government also downgraded the status of the ACC chairman to a Supreme Court judge from the status of a minister given during the tenure of the last caretaker government.
In a gazette notification, the government appointed Rahman as commissioner of the commission under section 6 (1) and its chairman under section 5 (1) of the ACC act, 2007 with effect from May 2, 2009.
Meanwhile, acting ACC chairman M Habibur Rahman in the afternoon confirmed that they received a copy of the gazette notification on the appointment.
“The anti-corruption commission’s approach to advance with its activities now depends on the new chairman. We hope for the best,” said Habibur Rahman in a reaction to the appointment.
“It’s a matter of relief for me that the huge task of anti-corruption drives will no longer be on my shoulder,” he added.
Former bureaucrat Ghulam Rahman, who retired as shipping ministry secretary in 2004, was appointed as chairman of the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission by the last caretaker government.
The BNP-led four-party alliance government constituted the ACC on November 21, 2004 with Justice Sultan Hossain Khan as its chief with the status of a Supreme Court judge.
But the commission failed to keep the anti-graft watchdog functional and came under criticism for its ‘partisan role.’
Sultan and two other commissioners resigned during the tenure of the caretaker government following then president Iajuddin Ahmed’s call for them to step down.
The caretaker government on February 22, 2007 appointed Lt General (retd) Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, also former adviser to a caretaker government, as the ACC chairman, upgrading the status of the ACC chairman to that of a minister from the status of an appellate division judge of Supreme Court.
Hasan Mashhud resigned all of a sudden on April 2, eighty-five days after the Awami League-led grand alliance assumed power, without showing any reason. There had been widespread speculations that his resignation followed some awkward situation created since formation of the new political government.
Habibur Rahman took charge of ACC as the senior commissioner in accordance with the ACC Act, 2007 following Mashhud’s resignation.

Courtesy of The Daily Star