Photo: Messenger
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has been accused of implementing a ‘choose and pick’ strategy while promoting deputy directors (DD) to the director's post, leading to dissatisfaction within the ACC.
Of late, seven deputy directors from the 94-batch have been promoted, excluding five from the 95-batch. Consequently, junior batch officers, who joined as inspectors and have now been promoted to the director's position, will be required to provide Annual Confidential Reports (ACR) for senior batch officers.
Additionally, there are complaints about not adhering to the seniority list for promotions, a violation of ACC (Employees) Service Rules-2008.
According to sources in the ACC, two directors were promoted under the influence of a senior state official. One of the officers induced the influence of his elder brother, who is in an administration cadre. However, they have refuted these claims to The Daily Messenger, saying that the allegations are false and fabricated.
Remarkably, there is no objection to the promotion of a single individual to the director's post, as this person is recognised by the commission as an honest and efficient officer.
On December 27, seven deputy directors of the ACC were promoted to the position of director. On January 2, offices were assigned among them, and they were posted.
Former Director-General of ACC (Legal and Prosecution) Moyeedul Islam told The Daily Messenger, “After the seniority list, no ACR was issued, and no examination for promotion was conducted. In this situation, promoting individuals by breaking the seniority list is considered unusual and against the rules. This can lead to frustration and demoralisation among officials, making it extremely unfair. It is not possible for the ACC to effectively fight corruption with frustrated and demoralised officials.”
According to ACC sources, officers from the 95-batch directly joined the service as first-class district anti-corruption officers, while those from the 94-batch joined as inspectors. In 2007, officers from the 94-batch became assistant directors and served as inspectors and assistant directors under the 95-batch for 11-12 years. Now, after 11 years, officers from the 94-batch are likely to submit ACRs for officers from the 95-batch. No office does such an unusual thing without any reason. However, three deputy directors from the 95-batch have already been promoted as directors and director-general.
According to ACC sources, there are no departmental or criminal cases against the five dropouts of batch-95, yet they are repeatedly deprived. Questions arise about the influence of political considerations in their case, as some of them were involved in investigations against ministers, including former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia of the previous BNP government. The denial of promotion without evidence for the officer who filed a case against BNP acting president Tarique Rahman and his wife also raises questions about political considerations.
Among them, four officers were transferred out of the ACC on deputation, though no reason has been mentioned in the papers for their transfer. The current commission believes that the Iqbal Mahmood-led commission punitively transferred them out of the ACC. However, there is no mention of any disciplinary statement or transfer order in the personal records of those officials. Consequently, this issue should not be considered in the promotion decision. Officer Farid Ahmed Patwari was also transferred out of the ACC in the past but was later promoted to director and retired. Therefore, individuals should not be deprived in any way, considering their qualifications as officers, seniority and service rules.
The question arises: if promotion was denied based on political considerations, was it also taken into account for those who were promoted? Were intelligence reports considered in their case?
Among the promoted officers, Mohammad Ibrahim second in seniority in his batch, Talebur Rahman fifth, Jahangir Hossain seventh, Mohammad Abul Hossain eighth, SMM Akhtar Hamid Bhuya tenth, Mozahar Ali Sardar eleventh, and Jalal Uddin Ahmad twelfth. Bypassing the first, third, fourth, sixth, and ninth positions in the seniority list, the officers holding the position in the second, fifth, seventh, eighth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth from the list were promoted. Notably, the deputy director in the first position-Rafikuzzaman, the third-Monayem Hossain, the fourth-Malay Kumar Saha, the sixth-Abdul Majed, and the ninth-Syed Tahsinul Haque have been excluded. All of them, except Syed Tahsinul Haque, joined as deputy directors on March 12, 2012.
The commission published the final seniority list of 59 deputy directors in 2023. The first 22 deputy directors on the list include 95 batch officers: Md. Golam Farooq, Mohammad Zahirul Huda, MM Shabbir Hasan, Md. Nashir Uddin, Khan Md. Mizanul Islam, and Mohammad Abul Kalam Azad. From the 94 batch: Md. Rafikuzzaman, Mohammad Ibrahim, Md. Monayem Hossain, Malay Kumar Saha, Md. Talebur Rahman, Md. Abdul Majed, Md. Jahangir Hossain, Moha. Abul Hossain, Syed Tahsinul Haque, SM Akhtar Hamid Bhuya, Md. Mozahar Ali Sardar, Jalal Uddin Ahmad, Md. Anwarul Haque, Begum Selina Akhtar, Mrs. Reva Halder, Muhammad Mahbubul Alam, and Mosammat Mahfuza Khatun. Among them, Mohammad Abul Kalam Azad retired on December 31, and Golam Farooq is expected to retire on September 30.
Section 16 of the ACC (Employees) Service Rules-2008 states about seniority in promotion that an employee's seniority in a post shall be reckoned from the date of joining that post, according to sub-rule (1) of rule-16.
Sub-rule (3) specifies that if more than one person is promoted simultaneously, mutual seniority shall be determined based on the seniority of the post from which the promotion was made. However, penalised employees cannot claim corresponding seniority.
Messenger/Disha
