Account for your wealth or face the music: Public administration secretary

The Ministry of Public Administration has formed a five-strong committee to design a form, timeframe and process for the submission of information by government staff to account for their wealth, says Senior Secretary Md Mokhlesur Rahman.

The authorities will take punitive action if someone does not submit their information, the senior secretary told the media on Monday. ”We won’t get anything positive until we say something negative. If people think that things will be the same even if they don’t submit the account, they’ll never do it. Hence, they must realise that there will be consequences. To be precise, legal consequences. We’ll provide details when we circulate the form.”

“You have heard a lot of hyperbolic talk - zero tolerance and such. I don’t need to hear or say those things. For the public interest, we have only two agendas - the state and its people. We won’t hold back from doing what’s needed. We don’t need any power research. We’ll work according to the rules and with courage.”

On average, the number of government staff stands at around 1.5 million, the senior secretary said. “Earlier, we used to think only officers, who pay taxes, should submit accounts for their wealth. But, we saw that some fourth-class employees, like peons or drivers, own assets worth Tk 90 million or Tk 4 billion. Hence, we started the work to ensure [government employees] can submit their wealth statements in a modern and updated way. The key message was disseminated yesterday.”

He said a five-membered committee headed by the Anti-Corruption Commission secretary was already formed. The committee was composed of an NBR representative, a Finance Division representative, and a Comptroller and Auditor General’s Office representative, he said. The additional secretary of the Discipline and Investigation Wing of the public administration ministry is also a member of the committee.

Currently, there are five types of forms to submit wealth statements. The committee will prepare a format easy for people to use, the secretary said.

"Everyone has to submit their wealth statement. Even if they have zero wealth. You’ll be alerted when you have to submit the statement. Don’t you think this will be the first step against corruption? Not only bank account statements but also for land, savings certificates, or whatever other wealth a person has, they must give an account. We believe that submission of wealth statements will reduce corruption.”

The committee will prepare a one-page format in Bengali in the next seven days, he said. The ministry will give directives to submit the form to designated people in all ministries. It will be functional in 15 days.

The wealth statement should be submitted annually, either on Jan 1 or Jul 1, he said.

"Changes of government have happened many times. Have people fled like this? Why would the khatib of Baitul Mukarram flee? But he has fled too. Some of my batchmates who became MPs after retirement, have fled. I don’t know what message they got,” Mokhlesur Rahman said.

The senior secretary said people reacted once the ministry took the initiative. “Some people said it was never needed before while some said they didn’t have any papers. Now this will work, we hope, as the ACC will handle it officially. They will decide who to call to submit the wealth statement.”

“Everyone from A to Z has to give an account of their wealth. It will start with me. The only asset I have is a car bought with a loan. Nothing else. Whoever gets a salary from the government, must submit their wealth statement,” Mokhlesur said.