The Anti-Corruption Commission launched a record number of enquiries, 1,894, into corruption allegations against different graft suspects in 2024, far higher than 845 enquiries done in the previous year.
Most of the enquiries in the past year were launched after the fall of the Awami League government amid a student-led mass uprising on August 5, 2024.
The new inquires have involved ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana and their children and a number of AL government鈥檚 lawmakers and ministers.
The enquiries involve allegations of various corruption, including amassing illegal wealth and money laundering and embezzlement.
The conviction rate in corruption cases dropped to 47 per cent in 2024, the lowest in the past eight years, but the submission of graft complaints and the filing of cases slightly increased in the year, according to a draft annual report of the ACC.
Despite the anti-graft agency launching a record number of enquiries in the past year, it is only 11.94 per cent of the total 15,842 complaints lodged with the ACC in 2024.
ACC director general Md Akhtar Hossain told 抖阴精品, 鈥楢 huge number of complaints are submitted to the ACC from various sources every year, and the commission scrutinises the allegations and makes decisions on launching inquiry following rules and procedures.鈥�
However, the commission cannot initiate probes into a number of allegations, as many of those are weak or out of the ACC鈥檚 jurisdiction, he said.
The data show that the ACC initiated a total of 1,894 enquiries in 2024 against 845 in 2023, 901 in 2022, 530 in 2021 and 822 in 2020.
The report to be submitted to the president this month showed that the commission received a total of 15,842 complaints in 2024, but more than half of the allegations (8,623 allegations) were submitted to the ACC after the political changeover in August.
Of the total allegations, 9,505 complaints were submitted to the ACC headquarters, 1,584 were submitted to the agency鈥檚 divisional offices, while the ACC got 1,108 allegations based on newspaper and television reports, 792 from government offices and agencies, 399 from private organisations, 393 via the ACC hotline and 2,061 through alternative channels, including courts, emails and social media.
In 2023, the ACC received 15,437 complaints, but launched enquiries into only 845 complaints 鈥� just 5.47 per cent of the total allegations.
In 2022, a total of 19,338 complaints were lodged, but the ACC initiated enquiries into only 901 complaints 鈥�4.65 per cent of the total complaints.
The commission received 14,789 allegations in 2021 and 18,489 in 2020.
A total of 451 graft cases were filed in 2024 against 404 cases in 2023, 406 in 2022, 347 in 2021 and 348 in 2020.
However, the conviction rate in corruption cases fell to 47 per cent in 2024, raising concerns about the effectiveness of the ACC in fighting corruption.
This marks a sharp decline from the previous year鈥檚 conviction rate of 57.18 per cent.
The conviction rate has decreased to 47 per cent in 2024 over the past four years as the rate was 72 per cent in 2020.
Md Moyeedul Islam, former director general (investigation) of the ACC, attributed the falling conviction rate to negligence by the agency鈥檚 officials and lawyers, weak case preparation and a lack of proper supervision.
鈥楾he graft cases are sometimes approved by the commission without proper merit or based on political considerations,鈥� said Moyeedul, also a former district and sessions judge.
Referring to inefficiency of the public prosecutors in proving the charges, he said that greater supervision and maintaining more caution during approval of cases were essential in this regard.
The commission鈥檚 data show that 341 graft cases were disposed of in 2024, with only 47 per cent resulting in convictions.
Of them, the conviction rate was just 29 per cent in the cases filed by the Bureau of Anti-Corruption which ceased to exist in 2004, while the ACC鈥檚 cases saw a higher conviction rate of 48 per cent.
This marks a significant decline compared with the previous seven years, with a 57.18 per cent conviction rate in 2023, 60.98 per cent in 2022, 60 per cent in 2021, 72 per cent in 2020, 63 per cent in 2019, 63 per cent in 2018, and 68 per cent in 2017.
In 2016, the conviction rate, however, was 37 per cent, and in 2015, it was 35 per cent.
The decline in the pace of case disposal was also evident, with only 8.65 per cent of the cases disposed of in 2024, down from 10.17 per cent in 2023.
The anti-graft agency has also reported a significant backlog of corruption cases currently pending in lower courts across the country.
As of 2024, a total of 3,410 cases 鈥� 3,066 of which were filed by the ACC and the rest 344 filed by the erstwhile BAC 鈥� were awaiting disposal.
Expressing concern over the decline in conviction rates, Transparency International Bangladesh executive director Iftekharuzzaman said that although the special judges鈥� courts were set up to handle corruption cases, in reality these courts were handling other cases also, which could be a contributing factor for the low conviction rates.
He also mentioned that earlier the commission had filed amid pressure many cases which were out of its jurisdiction.
The ACC reform commission recommended establishing an independent prosecution unit for the commission to improve the agency鈥檚 efficacy in handling graft cases, he said.
Iftekharuzzaman, however, expressed hope that the agency under the new government would set an example by ensuring punishment for major corruption incidents.
ACC director general Md Akhtar Hossain said that convictions depended on the quality of evidence presented in court, and it took capacity development initiatives for its officials to strengthen the investigation process.
Transparency International in its Corruption Perception Index 2024 indicated that corruption was increasing in Bangladesh as the country slipped two steps in its global Corruption Perception Index to 151, jointly with Congo and Iran.
Bangladesh scored 23 to become the 14th most corrupt country globally and the second most corrupt state in South Asia, only ahead of Afghanistan, which scored 17.
Bangladesh鈥檚 latest score is the lowest in the past 13 years, highlighting a troubling trend in governance and corruption.