The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has written to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking for the information of 38 officials and employees of Bangladesh embassies in 10 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, alleging abuse of power, embezzlement of money and financial loss to the government. After confirming whether these complaints are corruption or audit objection, the foreign advisor is talking about taking action. Touhid Hossain.
He said this in response to questions from journalists at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday (September 4).
The foreign affairs adviser said audit objections are often seen as corruption. It has to be seen whether they are seen as corruption or not. From the nature of the complaints, it seems to me that many of them are the result of audit objections. Audit objection and corruption are not the same thing.
Regarding the verification of complaint process, he said, the Audit Objection Officer will look into the matter. If there is anything left, some money may be deducted from the concerned officials. I think there may be room for some misunderstanding. However, I will not say anything for sure, until I see each case in detail. I will examine it after seeing the Director General Administration and the Secretary of State.
In response to a question about cooperation with ACC, he said, "We don't want corruption." So we will certainly do whatever cooperation they want. It has to be seen whether there is actual corruption or not.
Many feel that someone may have been overzealous and complained. When attention was drawn to this matter, Tauhid Hossain said, it can happen. It's always like this. I don't think there is much to worry about.
A letter was sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the ACC's integrated district office Dhaka-1 on Tuesday. The letter mentions allegations of irregularities and corruption against ambassadors, chancellery heads or chief consular officers, secretaries of ministries and other officials working in Bangladesh embassies or high commissions appointed in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Saudi Arabia, China, Dubai, Italy, Switzerland and the Philippines. Investigation is ongoing.
It has been requested to provide the current workplace, designation, permanent address and current address of these officers to the ACC by September 10.
Four weeks have been given for the repatriation of terminated contractual ambassadors and the appointment of new ambassadors to those missions, the Foreign Affairs Adviser said. It will be over in a few days. Everyone will come. Replacement will take some time. It won't happen suddenly, it has to be thought about. We need the right people.
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