ACC chairman, two commissioners resign
The development comes after the interim government earlier this month formed the Anti-Corruption Reform Commission
Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah, the chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), and two commissioners of the anti-graft watchdog resigned on Tuesday (29 October), citing personal reasons.
The development follows the interim government forming earlier this month an Anti-Corruption Reform Commission, tasked with proposing necessary reforms to make the ACC more effective, independent, and impartial.
Moinuddin, Commissioner (Investigation) Md Jahurul Haque, and Commissioner (Inquiry) Asia Khatun submitted their resignation letters and left the office at around 2:10pm on Tuesday, according to senior ACC officials who wished not to be named.
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According to some media reports, Moinuddin himself confirmed the matter to reporters around that time but did not provide a reason for the resignations.
Moinuddin Abdullah, a former agriculture secretary, and Jahurul Haque, a former Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission chairman and district and sessions judge, were appointed to their posts in the ACC by the previous Awami League government on 3 March 2021.
Asia Khatun, a former secretary of the Bangladesh Public Service Commission Secretariat, was appointed on 13 June last year.
The three bid farewell to all employees at the ACC headquarters informally before they submitted their resignations on Tuesday, officials and staff told reporters.
Officials also said the resignations came just hours before a scheduled meeting with the ACC Reform Commission on Tuesday afternoon.
Talking to The Business Standard, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman, who heads the ACC Reform Commission, said he talked to Moinuddin on Tuesday after his resignation.
"We had a meeting scheduled with the ACC officials but it has been cancelled. However, the meeting was not that important," he said.
"We are already in contact with senior ACC officials in the headquarters and across the country. We are taking into account what they are telling us. The resignations and the meeting cancellation will not impact the Reform Commission's activities," Iftekharuzzaman added.
According to the Anti-Corruption Commission Act of 2004, a commissioner may resign from his/her office by giving one month's prior notice to the president.
However, it was unclear whether the three officials submitted their resignation letters to the president.
