Executive director ‘embarrassed’ by ACC official’s comments.
A top official of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) on Thursday said that in the event of any unmotivated probe into its activities by the country’s anti-graft body, the organisation stands ready to cooperate.
Speaking at a press conference, TIB executive director Dr Iftekharuzzaman said, “They (ACC) can open a probe into our activities and even lodge a case (against us). We’ll cooperate with them.”
His comments came a day after a commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) questioned the transparency of the non-government organisation, which serves as the local chapter of Berlin-based corruption watchdog Transparency International.
“But I would like to tell them (ACC) to rethink (before initiating probe), if they do it with an intention to curb criticism and to harass us,” Dr Iftekharuzzaman added at the press conference held to reveal findings of a study on National Integrity Strategy of Bangladesh at a city hotel.
Earlier on Wednesday, ACC commissioner Md Shahabuddin at a function at Shilpakala Academy in the city remarked, “TIB works with foreign fund. How much of it dothey spend on research… a time will come when we will not hesitate to unveil your mask.”
Criticising the commissioner for his remark, Dr Iftekharuzzaman said “I am speechless, I feel embarrassed. I think his body language showed that he was embarrassed as well.”
Dr Iftekharuzzaman has served as executive director of TIB since 2004. Since 2012, he has also served as a group director of Transparency International.
“We have no masks other than faces. We are TIB,” he added.
He noted that never TIB conceals the fact that it is foreign-funded. “We don’t receive or spend a single penny without approval of the government and there is no scope as well. The accountings are clearly mentioned on its website.”
TIB had a strong role in establishing the state anti-graft body and it provided the government a draft law to set up the ACC. And the TIB has been assisting the ACC since its inception, the veteran TIB official claimed.
About the National Integrity Strategy, Dr Iftekharuzzaman said though the progress of a number of its short-term action plans were achieved, there remained scope to achieve more.
The ACC, the judiciary, the law enforcing agencies, the National Parliament and the administration are critically most important sectors for ensuring our national integrity, he observed.
TIB programme managers Shammi Liala Islam and Sadhan Kumar Das jointly presented findings of the TIB study titled the ‘National Integrity Strategy: Implementation and Progress’ in the press conference at Hotel Abakash in the city’s Mohakhali area, while TIB Trusty Board member M Hafizuddin Khan was also present.
In the findings, TIB said the key indexes of integrity -accountability, participation, sensitivity and justice- were not included in the strategy.
Some important organisations like the Information Commission, the National Human Rights Commission, the National Board of Revenue, the law enforcing agencies and the armed forces should be brought into the integrity strategy, the study said.
A massive campaign is needed to spread the national integrity strategy, it suggested.
Source: UNB Connect
