Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission Paralysed for Months Following Leadership Vacuum
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Bangladesh’s primary anti-corruption agency, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), has remained effectively paralyzed for three and a half months following the mass resignation of its chairman and two commissioners. The leadership vacuum has halted the agency’s core functions, leaving hundreds of investigative files in limbo and preventing the pursuit of new corruption allegations.
According to agency officials, the ACC receives between five and six new corruption complaints daily, yet these remain unaddressed as the law mandates that all investigations require formal commission approval. Beyond the initiation of probes, the absence of leadership has frozen the filing of criminal cases, the endorsement of investigation reports, the submission of charge sheets to courts, and the enforcement of asset seizures or travel bans against suspects.
বিজ্ঞাপন
The impasse began on March 3, when Chairman Abdul Momen and commissioners Mirza Muhammad Ali Akbar Aziz and Hafiz Ahsan Farid resigned simultaneously, only fourteen months into their five-year terms. Despite internal proposals to empower the ACC secretary as an interim measure to clear the mounting backlog of files, the government has yet to implement such a contingency.
While the Anti-Corruption Commission Act mandates the reconstitution of the commission within 30 days of a vacancy, the statute remains silent on protocols should that deadline lapse. Consequently, the organization has been left in a state of suspended animation, a situation that critics argue is providing a haven for corrupt actors.
বিজ্ঞাপন
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) executive director Iftekharuzzaman has characterized the stagnation as a deliberate policy failure. He argued that by allowing the commission to remain vacant, the government is effectively signaling a lack of commitment to its anti-corruption agenda, thereby granting a “license to corrupt.” Former ACC Director General Muidul Islam warned that this prolonged inactivity enables suspects to liquidate illicit assets and destroys vital evidence, potentially damaging the nation’s standing in global corruption indices.
Efforts to restart the agency are currently underway. The Cabinet Division has initiated the formation of a five-member search committee, having requested the Chief Justice to nominate representatives from the Appellate and High Court divisions. During a session in the National Assembly on Monday, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed confirmed the formation of this search committee, describing it as an intermediary step toward the establishment of a more robust anti-corruption framework.
However, with no fixed timeline for the completion of the appointment process, officials and civil society observers remain concerned about the indefinite erosion of accountability. As the backlog grows, the institution faces mounting pressure to regain its functionality and restore public trust in the state’s oversight mechanisms.
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