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5 years ago

Jamalpur DC removed from duty, facing investigation

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The government has moved against Jamalpur Deputy Commissioner Ahmed Kabir by removing him from active duty amid allegations of his getting intimate with a woman in his office.

Kabir was transferred to the Ministry of Public Administration as ‘officer on special duty’ (OSD), on Sunday.

The government has appointed Mohammed Enamul Haque, the personal secretary to the planning minister, to replace Kabir as the new deputy commissioner of Jamalpur, reports bdnews24.com.

Assigning a public servant as an OSD is often construed as a form of punishment in Bangladesh.

The Cabinet Division has also formed a five-strong committee to investigate the allegations against Kabir.

The division’s Joint Secretary Mushfiqur Rahhman is heading the committee with representatives of the public administration ministry, Mymensingh divisional commissioner, and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.

A deputy secretary to the Cabinet Division will work as the member secretary of the committee.

It has been asked to submit a report within next 10 days, said Additional Secretary Abdul Gaffar Khan.

Two video clips depicting intimacy between a man and a woman went viral on Facebook.

Social media went into frenzy when media reports identified the man in the video as Jamalpur DC Kabir and the woman as a staffer in his office. The room shown in the video clip is the restroom in the DC’s office, according to reports.

The woman has been using her relationship with the DC to manipulate other staff members, Somoy TV reported on Friday.

As a form of retaliation, someone from the office is believed to have secretly planted a camera in that room which recorded the video, the report said.

Kabir denies the allegations brought against him in social media posts, calling it a “conspiracy”.

Speaking to the media on Sunday, he admitted that the woman in the videos was an employee in his office, but denied that he was the man in question.

Fake accounts were used to spread the videos and the entire incident was staged to harass him, he said.

‘EXEMPLARY PUNISHMENT’

State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain has vowed stern punishment if the allegations against Kabir are found true in investigation.

“Of course he will face exemplary punishment. We have the option to take firm action as per our rules of service. That will happen. We will be able to take a quick decision,” he told reporters at the Secretariat in Dhaka.

“Public servants must follow the code of conduct, ethics,” he remarked.

The government will take the decision following the committee’s investigation, which will determine how much unethical the acts of Kabir would be, if he actually did these, the state minister said.

“He allegedly deviated from his duty as a DC to do unethical things,” he said, adding that the government acted swiftly upon receiving a written complaint and made Kabir OSD following initial investigation for now.

“The incident left the bureaucracy in Bangladesh in a great deal of discomfort,” the state minister said.  

The government will also withdraw a certificate conferred on Kabir for virtuousness, he said.

The woman in the video will also be tried if she is found to be a government staffer, Farhad added.

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