Dhaka: Many graft suspects go off the hook in the cases filed by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) as it fails to produce witnesses in courts, says a senior official of the national anti-graft agency.

‘We hardly get the expected results in graft cases for various reasons…the ACC has no prosecution unit. In many cases, it fails to present witnesses before courts,’ ACC director general Dr Shamsul Arefin told its monthly press briefing at its media centre on Monday.

Official data show that 10 graft cases were settled in courts in January this year. Among the cases, the accused were convicted in only three cases while graft suspects got released in the remaining seven cases.

According to ACC officials, retirement of their officials is one of the reasons why the anti-graft body is unable to produce witnesses in courts.

After retirement, ACC officials return to their respective home districts and they ultimately show little interest to appear in courts as witnesses, creating an impediment towards proving allegations against accused in courts.

Arefin said the Commission has already issued an office order to provide allowance to its retired officials aiming to ensure their appearance before court as witnesses.

The office order, issued on January 10, 2016, says a retired official will get Tk 500 in allowance for appearing once as a witness to court in his or her home district. The Commission will give maximum Tk 2,000 for per appearance if he or she goes outside his or her home district to appear as a witness before a court.

About the Commission’s activities, Arefin said the ACC received 628 allegations in January this year and it decided to probe 44 allegations after examining those. Eleven graft allegations were sent to respective departments or ministries asking them to take departmental actions, he added.

During the period, the ACC filed 31 cases against 46 people, including 18 government officials and five public representatives, and submitted charge-sheets before court in 42 cases.

ACC director Nur Ahmad and its public relations officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya were, among others, present at the press conference.