Editorial
Lying one's way to impunity
Truth Commission has only helped it
AS has been revealed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), while the 270 graft suspects had admitted before the Truth and Accountability Commission (TAC) to having only TK 28 crore, the actual figure could be as high as Tk 400 crore. Such a glaring discrepancy has emerged between the findings of the ACC and the confessions made by clemency seekers.
Not long ago, when TAC was being set up, we had pointed out the folly of such an arrangement that actually established a parallel justice system in the country. There were inherent lacunae in the system that were apparent to all. We had cautioned the commission of the need to verify the statements submitted by the clemency seekers before passing their orders. Events have proved our apprehensions true. Reportedly, all except one have gotten away with corruption by lying their way out, as one had feared they would. In other words, except for one all the confessional statements are blatant lies. After all, can we expect the corrupt to give the actual figure of the money they have accumulated illegally?
We find it very difficult to accept the comment of the chairman of the erstwhile commission that the commission was under no obligation to have the statement of the applicants verified by any other agency, not even the ACC. We feel that there is always the moral as well as procedural side to dispensation of justice that the adjudicators cannot afford to overlook. In the fitness of things, each and every statement submitted before the commission should have been verified with the relevant agencies including the ACC in particular.
The shoddy work of TAC admits of no excuse. If time was a constraint, the chairman, being himself a justice, should have pointed that out to the government for the sake of justice and rule of law. We feel that neither has justice been served nor the rule of law been upheld by absolving the corrupt and making them immune to prosecution basing on their unverified statements. The exercise has thus been fruitless and instead of solving problems TAC's action has given rise to new ones, apart from proving counterproductive to the anticorruption drive.
According to the ordinance of the erstwhile commission, giving false statements or withholding facts are liable to action. We suggest that the cases be reinvestigated and those found guilty of wrongful confessions be subjected to due process of law. After all, we cannot live with a bad precedent.
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