JS panel getting tough with defiant ACC bigwigs

Ex-ACC secy clarifies position before watchdog
The parliamentary standing committee on public undertakings Tuesday unanimously decided to take recourse to all legal actions, including issuing arrest warrant, to bring the defiant former ACC chairman and two incumbent commissioners before the committee”s next meeting, reports UNB.
As the crusaders against corruption defied earlier summons to appear and testify before the lawmakers on charges of abuse of powers and government funds during the anti-graft purge under state of emergency, the parliamentary watchdog body took the tough stand on roping them in, “if necessary”.
The stringent decision was taken in Tuesday”s meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Undertakings at the parliament building.
Chairman of the panel Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir of the ruling Awami League, who is one of a large number of bigwigs booked during the drive launched by the immediate-past interim regime, presided over the meeting.
Talking to UNB over phone, opposition chief whip Zainul Abdin Farooque, who was present at the meeting as member of the committee, said the meeting “unanimously” decided to recommend Speaker Abdul Hamid Advocate for taking all necessary steps, including legal action, for the
appearance of Anti-Corruption Commission”s ex-chairman Lt Gen (retd) Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury and commissioners M Habibur Rahman, now acting chairman of the ACC, and Abul Hasan Manzur Mannan before the next meeting.
The parliamentary committee next sits on June 9. Former ACC Secretary Delwar Hossain, who is now Land Secretary, however, attended the meeting.
A member of the committee said, “The Speaker has the capacity to take step for issuing arrest warrant.”
The standing members, including Dr TIM Fazle Rabbi Chowdhury, Khaledur Rahman Tito and Mainuddin Khan Badal, attended the meeting.
The ACC in a letter to the committee on Sunday had informed that the three would not attend Tuesday”s meeting.
Earlier, the high-ups of the cosntitutional body against corruption had refrained from appearing before the committee on April 8, saying that the committee does not have the jurisdiction to summon them.
bdnews24.com adds: Former ACC secretary, now land secretary, Md Delwar Hossain has said he “clarified his position” on Tuesday at a meeting of a parliamentary watchdog that summoned members of the Anticorruption Commission to review its performance.
Hossain was the only one, among current and former officials of the antigraft body summoned, to attend the meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on public undertakings, chaired by committee chief Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir from 11:30am.
Tuesday”s was the second meeting the ACC members have refused to attend.
Former ACC chairman Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury and then the acting chairman Habibur Rahman, among the other members, decided not to attend the previous meeting in April, saying the watchdog had no legal authority to summon the commission.
Hossain, who also skipped the previous April 12 meeting, told reporters on Tuesday: “In April, I received a letter just four days prior to the meeting … I did not have time to acquaint myself with parliamentary procedure in such a matter.”
“This time I had a month and a half to prepare.”
Hossain, who was in charge of the ACC in Feb 2007 at a time when the commissioners resigned en masse, said: “I have clarified my position and taken all responsibility for the Anticorruption Commission when there were no commissioners.”
“If they think I am responsible for any wrongdoing, I am ready to accept any punishment.”
He was in charge during that time when ”lists of VIP graft suspects” came out naming top politicians and businessmen.
The government had previously sent separate letters to the ACC, its members and former members in early April to attend the April 12 meeting of the parliamentary watchdog.
The letters said the meeting would discuss the problems of the anti-graft body in discharging its duties and the activities and procedures undertaken during the two-year rule of the military-installed interim government.
The ACC was asked to appear with all procedural documents since its inception along with its latest annual and audit reports.
The standing committee declared the ACC officials “in contempt of parliament and the constitution” for refusing to appear before the committee on the day.
Alamgir, the panel head, said at the time: “We have sought clarification from them, under which law they have refused to appear before the committee.”
The committee gave the members of the ACC until seven days prior to Tuesday”s meeting to clarify their position.
“The ACC is an independent body and accountable only to the president for its activities,” said Habibur Rahman at the time.

Courtesy of The News Today