Ansar officer offers bribe to ACC man, gets arrested

The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday arrested an Ansar commandant when he allegedly offered bribe to an ACC official who was looking into a corruption against him.

The anti-graft watchdog filed a case against the arrestee -- Ashikur Rahman, 34, of Ansar Battalion-17 in Bandarban -- and handed him over to Double Mooring Police Station, said ACC Deputy Director Lutful Kabir Chondon.

Ashikur tried to bribe ACC Deputy Assistant Director Jafar Sadek Shibli Tk 100,000 to stop the enquiry against him, Chondon alleged.

According to sources, Ashikur misappropriated Tk 3.24 lakh from an Ansar office renovation project in Champatali area of Bandarban's Lama upazila.

Ashikur did not hire any labour and forced Ansar members to finish the renovation work. That way he saved the Tk 3.24 lakh, the sources said.

The government had allocated a total of Tk 12.38 lakh for the renovation work that had been executed between 2016 and 2017.

In a statement released after the arrest, ACC Director General (Admin) Mohammad Munir Chowdhury said, “When government officers get involved in corruption, they no longer remain public servants. A government officer must refrain from corruption.”

ACC has beefed up its intelligence surveillance on bribery incidents to prevent corruption, he added.

Meanwhile the ACC yesterday arrested three former Janata Bank officials in Patuakhali's Shimulbag area over allegations of misappropriating Tk 2.4 crore.

The three -- former assistant manager Abdul Ali, former assistant executive officer Mir Jalal Uddin and former assistant executive officer Nazrul Islam -- were employees of the bank's of Shimulbag branch.