The much-talked-about Truth and Accountability Commission (TAC) has been constituted with the appointments of its chairman and two members Wednesday, report UNB and bdnews24.com.
Justice Habibur Rahman Khan has been appointed chairman of the Commission, constituted by the caretaker government to deal with the clemency matter of the high-profile graft suspects.
Former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Asif Ali and Major General (retd) Manzur Rashid Chowdhury have been made members of the three-man commission. "President Dr Iajuddin Ahmed gave the appointments," Secretary of President's Office Sirajul Islam said.
On May 25, the Council of Advisers approved the Right to Voluntary Disclosure Ordinance 2008, paving the way for forming the TAC.
The President promulgated the ordinance at the beginning of June. On July 6, some amendments to the ordinance were proposed by the Council of Advisers.
As per provision of the ordinance, the Commission will run for five months after its formation. The president will appoint one of the three members as its chairman.
Meanwhile, the government has taken all the preparations for the functioning of the TAC, which is to supplement the workload of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) by way of exonerating the deserving ones of the so many graft suspects, being hunted out under a countrywide purge in the interim period for prosecuting.
Following the promulgation of the ordinance, the government set up the TAC office in three houses - Totinee, Tonmoy and Uttarayan - which were used as residences of the ministers during the elected governments' tenures.
The government has already appointed a number of officials on deputation for manning the Commission.
The office of the TAC is ready, and all preparations have been taken, so that right after the formation the Commission can start working, some officials on deputation said.
The Right to Voluntary Disclosure Ordinance 2008 defines corruption and corrupt activities as in the schedules of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act 1947, the Customs Act 1969, the Income Tax Ordinance 1984, the Vat Law 1991, and the Anti-Corruption Act 2004.
These also include violation of any rules of the Bank Company Law 1991 or evasion of stamp duty, registration fees or any other charges or revenues imposed by any law or rules of the country.
Along with those who will make voluntary disclosure about their corruption, the commission will also deal with persons referred by the National Coordination Committee (NCC) on serious crime and corruption, the Anti-Corruption Commission and by any court dealing with their cases.
Persons who will make voluntary disclosure will be disqualified for a period not exceeding five years from holding any offices that include parliament, zila parishad, upazila parishad, union parishad, municipality, city corporation, or any trade organisation and professional body, or any post in any bank, financial organisation or public limited company or any other organisations formed under the constitution or any law, says the ordinance.
According to the ordinance provision anybody already convicted of graft, with a sentence of two years or less, will get the scope of leniency, if he confesses and returns any illegal earnings within a given timeframe.
But if anyone provides false and misleading information, the commission will fine the person Tk 0.1 million or sentence him to six months in jail or the both.
The people convicted of arms, drugs, child-trafficking and rape cases will not get the clemency.
