'Tk 1cr man' becomes broke in front of Tac

Younus Ali, a junior-level officer of Titas Gas, is one of 135 employees of the state-owned company found by National Coordination Committee (NCC) on corruption and serious crime to have amassed ill-gotten wealth worth at least Tk 1 crore each.

Interestingly, when NCC sent Younus' name to the Truth and Accountability Commission (Tac) for voluntary disclosure following his application, he rejected outright of having any ill-gotten wealth.

He rather alleges he was branded as a corruption-suspect because of his involvement in politics since he was an employees' union member in Titas. He claims he has been "honest" throughout his life.

The commission now has no other way to justify the claims of the graft-suspects and no alternative to listening and believing their tales as it doesn't have authority to conduct an investigation into these claims, sources in Tac and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) observe.

The Tac now believes every word of Younus, feels sympathy for him, and considers pardoning him and others like him out of sympathy, Tac sources add.

The NCC taskforce in February tracked huge anomalies in Titas and found 135 of its staffs are millionaires, each owning at last Tk 1 crore.

Among them, 107 applied through NGC to face Tac and Younus is one of them, the sources say.

Jalal Uddin, junior accounts assistant, is another on the list of 107 sent by NCC to Tac. However, Jalal also claimed before Tac he did not have any ill-gotten wealth to disclose or surrender. He claimed to have been "victimised" by politics, as he was a member of a pro-BNP trade union group.

At one stage of hearing, Jalal, however, confessed to having ill-gotten property worth Tk 25,000, the lowest willingly reported by the 49 corrupt-accused so far.

He had earlier confessed before NCC to having illegal wealth worth Tk 37,000, which he termed before Tac a forced confession under pressure.

The NCC did not send to Tac any investigation report along with the list of corruption-suspects and only mentioned what the corruption-suspects confessed.

Confirming that a number of government officials are claiming not to own any ill-gotten wealth, Tac Chairman Justice Habibur Rahman Khan told The Daily Star, "We'll not disclose what we think about disposal of our cases. We the commission members will decide about the matter after hearing from the corruption-suspects."

Justice Habibur denied giving any details regarding the matter.

The chairman has recently said, "Whether the graft-accused disclose full information about their ill-gotten wealth or not, it's clear to me that they feel repentant by depositing parts of their ill-gotten wealth. I have seen it. I have seen sign of repentance in their faces."

"What would I disclose before Tac when I don't own any such wealth? I told Tac I was branded as a corruption-suspect just because I was a member of Titas Gas employees' union," Younus told over phone.

"I asked the commission to initiate investigation into my case once again if they don't believe me. But the commission said they don't have the option to conduct an investigation and heard me kindly," Jalal said.

"It's interesting and frustrating at the same time that some of the corruption-suspects are likely to be free without confessing to their corruption," says a Tac official.

The NCC list to the Tac includes deputy director general, assistant manager, deputy manager, meter readers, account assistants, supervisors, junior technicians and junior development assistants of Titas.

The Tac has heard 89 corruption-accused, mostly government staffs, and primarily ordered them to deposit only about Tk 16.53 crore to the state. Over 30 Titas officials were heard who have so far confessed to having ill-gotten wealth worth about Tk 40 lakh only.(thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=55943
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