Suspended ACC official Sharif replies to allegations

Suspended official of the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) Md. Sharif Uddin has sent a written reply to the allegations filed by the state-run anti-graft body on Sunday.

In the allegation ACC secretary said, Sharif froze 33 back accounts without taking approval from the commission and court orders, which is a matter of "embarrassment" for the commission. Regarding this allegation, Sharif said, “I did not give any order to seize the bank money. I requested the bank for the sake of investigation. It was written in the request letter that, this would be informed through the court soon. Immediately it was done only for suspending withdrawal of the money.”  

According to ACC, Sharif kept possession of taka 93 lakh 60 thousand which were confiscated by RAB from a surveyor’s residence in Cox’s Bazar for four months without notifying the authorities. Sharif says, there is no legal obligation that prohibits the possession of confiscated money to the investigation officer. There are plenty of examples that the investigation officer kept possession of the seized money.

The suspended official said, the allegation of torturing an accused (CIP Md. Idris) ruthlessly in the name of recording a confessional statement is not true. Idris was arrested as an accused of land acquisition case and taken to remand following a court order. Idris gave a confessional statement to the court under section 144.   

Sharif Uddin was accused of defying the commission order by being absent at his workplace in Patuakhali where he was transferred from Chattogram. On this issue, Sharif said, when he wrote the commission, he was infected in coronavirus. Apart from the Covid infection, as per the terms of service, the tenure of joining the transferred workplace can be extended up to 30 days. A departmental case was filed despite he (Sharif) submitted a coronavirus infection certificate attested by Chattogram Civil Surgeon.

Regarding the allegation of filing a writ against transfer order and publishing news on media Sharif said, “I don’t know the person Shahidul Islam who filed the writ petition against my transfer order. Even, it was beyond my knowledge that some 10 lawyers sent a letter to the high court seeking my security after the suspension. If anyone dwells on a legal step about me voluntarily, what can be there for me to do?”