ACC plans to rebuild anti-graft operations

Will present plan to President soon

Mahfuja Mukul : The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) wants to set up a research and development cell to combat and prevent corruption. The organization is interested in setting up a cell or unit to understand trends, identify types and devise new ways to combat corruption. It is said that these recommendations will be presented to the President in the annual report. The target is to make it a smart anti-graft organization.
Sources said time has been sought to submit the report to the President in the first week of March. The report will highlight future policies and plans. However, ACC also considers it a challenge to implement the strategic policies and plans taken in the short, medium and long term.
According to sources, the ACC has already taken some concrete steps to implement the plans. They also want to give special importance to social efforts to prevent corruption and take punitive measures to fight corruption on a large scale in the strategic plan. The policies and plans sought to implement are – institutional capacity building, effective investigation and investigation, effective prosecution, effective prevention and research programs and effective education system.
Capacity building
ACC considers building institutional capacity to be a major challenge. Still, they want to present some short, medium and long term action plans to the President. The short-term plan includes – formulation of a new organogram to suit the times, recruitment of new staff, provision of special incentives as reward for good performance and provision of adequate and appropriate logistic support. Although in 2023, the commission has appointed 128 people in various positions. Still some sanctioned posts are vacant.
The medium-term plan includes – planning, evaluation, analysis and action for human resource development, capacity building of ACC Digital Forensics Lab, preparation of trained manpower for forensic accounting, establishment of a dedicated training institute, preparation and implementation of annual training action plan at the beginning of the financial year, training of trainers Conducting Courses for (TOT) and interacting with partners supporting ACC in combating corruption.
Long-term plans include training for media personnel to enhance interaction between ACC and the public. In line with the ACC’s fundamental principles to ensure accountability and transparency, they intend to take initiatives to promote state code of ethics and take disciplinary action against those who violate code of ethics.
Search and investigation
Another important aspect of the anti-corruption commission’s (ACC) core activities is inquiry and investigation. This year’s annual report says – lack of capacity and application of traditional methods severely hampers the ACC’s efforts in investigations and investigations. That is why the organization wants to take some steps to ensure effective search and investigation activities.
The organization seeks to reward officials for integrity and adequate financial allocation and inclusion of necessary manpower, logistics and other facilities as part of short-term planning. As part of the medium-term plan, follow up by developing an up-to-date guideline for search and investigation incorporating relevant laws, rules, circulars and office orders. To provide for training and special allowances for inquiry and investigation officers and their supervising officers.
As part of the long-term plan, the agency intends to provide adequate technical support to ACC officials for investigations, investigations, prosecutions and prevention of corruption. For this, setting up quality detention centers and keeping the necessary budget allocation for detention centers.
Effective prosecution
Prosecution and monitoring of filed corruption cases is one of the main responsibilities of any anti-corruption agency. However, the commission currently does not have sufficient skilled manpower and logistics to provide effective support in the trial of these cases. That is why ACC wants to appoint competent and experienced prosecutors accordingly according to ACC Employment Rules 2008 keeping the manpower in the organogram for the prosecution unit along with logistics and other facilities. It also intends to develop guidelines for prosecutors and their supervisors and conduct training programs for prosecutors and supervisors.
Prevention and research activities
ACC believes that no anti-corruption initiative can succeed without the active support or participation of the public. The organization believes that research is necessary to understand the trend of corruption, identify new forms of corruption and find out new ways to deal with it and evaluate its extent. The ACC will therefore highlight the need for the commission’s own research and development unit in its report to the President, which will serve as a support for investigations, investigations, prosecutions and anti-corruption efforts.
ACC undertakes some short, medium and long term plans every year to increase the capacity of ACC to face various challenges in anti-corruption. This year has also been taken. How possible to implement and implement these plans? If you want to know, the Director General of the ACC (Prevention) Md. Akhter Hossain did not want to elaborate on the whole matter now. However, he said, the annual plan is tried to be implemented that year. To prevent corruption, public hearings, anti-corruption committee and integrity store activities are implemented throughout the year. However, there are exceptions in some cases due to various reasons.