The Election Commission is unlikely to send the wealth statements of ruling Awami League’s six lawmakers to the Anti-Corruption Commission.
The ACC on Thursday had sent a letter to the EC seeking certified copies of the affidavits containing wealth statements of six former ministers of the immediate past AL-led alliance government, who all are currently AL MPs, as the ACC has initiated the process to investigate the wealth of them on the basis of the wealth statements they had submitted to the EC for contesting the January 5 polls.
The affidavits showed an unusual increase in their wealth in the past five years.
In the first step, inquiries would be conducted against the former health minister, AFM Ruhul Haque, the former state minister for housing and public works, Abdul Mannan Khan, the former state minister for water resources, Mahbubur Rahman, lawmaker for Cox’s Bazar 4 Abdur Rahman Badi, lawmaker for Dhaka 14 Aslamul Haque Aslam and lawmaker for Satkhira 2 Abdul Jabbar.
A senior assistant secretary of the EC told New Age that the commission has drafted a letter in response to the ACC’s request, clearing the EC’s position.
‘The ACC sought the certified copies of the affidavits. But the EC does not have the authority to provide the ACC with the certified copies as the original copies of the affidavits are lying with the returning officers,’ he said.
The EC official said the commission in its letter to the ACC would a clarification of its inability to provide the certified copies to the ACC.
He said the letter would be sent to the ACC shortly after the commission approves it.
An analysis by the Citizens for Good Governance of the affidavits the candidates in the national elections had submitted to the EC along with their wealth statements showed an increase by up to 32,985 per cent in their income in the period.
According to the affidavits, income of the ministers increased by 243 per cent and their wealth by 247 per cent, while the income of state ministers increased by 464 per cent and their wealth by 459 per cent.
