Inaccessibility of bank documents has rendered uncertain the fates of most cases of the Anti-Corruption Commission currently being enquired or investigated, dealing a serious blow to the commission's overall anti-corruption drive.

In a legal interpretation based on sections 5 and 6(1) of the Bankers Books Evidence Act 1891 and section 94(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code, the ACC recently notified its officials that they cannot ask for one's bank statement without a court order. The ACC act itself does not allow its investigators to seek private documents like bank statements of an accused.

The commission has not face such crisis earlier. Since its formation the anti-graft body had remained ineffective until 2007 and then it started functioning under the state of emergency during the last caretaker government's rule when it had full access to bank documents of an individual. Since ACC cases are mostly related to amassing of wealth through illegal means, bank documents are the most vital source of information and evidence for enquiry and investigation.

ACC sources said 90 percent of around 1,550 cases, which are currently under enquiry or investigation, would remain incomplete with no significant findings because of this complexity. The commission has submitted recommendations to the government for amending the ACC act. "We have recommended amending the Anti-Corruption Commission Act besides ensuring that the act prevails over any other law in case of any conflict," ACC Chairman Ghulam Rahman told The Daily Star on October 7.

Sources in the cabinet division, however, said amendment to the ACC law in resolving the crisis is unlikely to be made because members of the cabinet division committee for reviewing the act do not agree with the proposal. The ACC notice appears to have hammered in the last nail in the commission's coffin. The commission has been literally ineffective since the Awami League-led government assumed power, officials involved in anti-corruption drives said. "I do not see any remedy to the crisis unless the commission is given special powers in this regard," ACC Secretary Khandaker Md Asaduzzaman, who signed the notice, told The Daily Star.

ACC issued the notice following a Bangladesh Bank request for maintaining legal procedure while seeking documents from banks. But ACC sources said different associations of banks and bankers that had bitter experience during the caretaker government's rule forced the government to impose this notice so that they can maintain secrecy of their clients' details. This will pave the way for the corrupt to deposit more money in the banks and increase flow of black money, they said.

According to the ACC act, the commission conducts an enquiry before accusing someone in a case and goes for investigation after filing a case. Getting court orders for seeking documents seems problematic and complex under the existing laws as it involves both the lower and higher courts besides two stages of ACC activities--enquiry and investigation. "It is not possible to get a court order during enquiry as the court passes such orders only against a filed case," said an ACC officer who is enquiring into a case. "If an individual is not accused or a case is not filed against him or her, they cannot be produced before a court. So, gaining orders from the court during enquiry [for their bank documents] is not possible, which leaves the enquiry incomplete," he added.

The ACC will have to take the High Court's permission while dealing with offences under laws other than sections 403, 406, 408, 409, sections 421-424, and sections 465-477 of the penal code. The lower court can pass an order for these sections. So, the commission will have to take the HC's permission for seeking one's bank statements during enquiry and investigation of a case filed under its own act. But getting the HC permission also seems very unlikely. "The High Court has never given an order asking for documents from an institution for enquiry or investigation," said an ACC investigator preferring anonymity. The situation is likely to complicate further as the National Board of Revenue recently placed a proposal to the cabinet division, saying it will not give the ACC any document since its law ensures secrecy of information it possesses.

-Daily Star