Editorial
New team at ACC
The body must have full autonomy
THE appointment of Lt. General (retired) Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury as the new chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission is a step we wholeheartedly welcome. We need hardly say that Chowdhury's career in the army has been an admirable one, especially the example he had set regarding austerity and simplicity. In recent times, the dedication with which he threw himself into the job of carrying out his responsibilities as an advisor to the caretaker government headed by President Iajuddin Ahmed was deeply appreciated by the country. More remarkably, the sense of integrity Mashhud Chowdhury demonstrated through quitting the office of advisor when he felt he was not being able to do his work to the nation's satisfaction only made his reputation go up by a good number of notches. The presence of such an individual of proven probity, as also of the two new commissioners, at the ACC is, therefore, an opportunity for the caretaker administration to make good on some of the more important of objectives it has set before itself as a prelude to general elections. There can be little denying that Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury and his team at the ACC will face a formidable challenge in fulfilling public expectations about the ACC. As matters stand, any programme of combating corruption entails the presence of a good, strong team of officials at the top levels of the ACC in addition to the mid and lower level employees already there. Apart from that, it is expected that the new ACC chief will lay bare his priorities as he goes about his new job. Foremost among such priorities will surely be the need to ensure that the ACC will have full freedom to frame its own rules and in line with those rules go after anyone linked to corrupt practices. Within the ambit of such rules must come an acquisition of powers that will enable the organization to compel individuals charged with corruption to appear before it. The ACC, in order to be effectual, must have the right to issue subpoenas and at the same time have a legal cell with authority to probe independently the cases it means to handle. In this regard, the backlog of cases as well as new or upcoming ones will call for careful, efficient handling, in a way that convinces the public that the new men at the ACC mean business. In the ultimate analysis there is a strong case for grant of financial authority to the ACC as mark of a guarantee of their independent functioning from the executive in all vital respects. A financial provision may be kept in the budget for their specific use, subject, of course, to year-end government auditing. General Mashhud Chowdhury and his team ought to undertake the matter of financial autonomy for the ACC in earnest as part of an overall reform process at the organisation. That will mean setting a healthy precedent for the times ahead. We wish them God speed.
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