DC Appointment: Government to probe bribery allegation

The government will form a high-level committee to investigate a news report published by Bangla daily Kalbela, which revealed WhatsApp conversations allegedly between the public administration secretary and a joint secretary over some financial transactions.

Shafiqul Alam, press secretary to Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus, confirmed this development during a media briefing at the Foreign Service Academy yesterday.

“We are closely examining the report concerning the public administration secretary. To address this issue, we are planning to set up a high-level committee composed of senior journalists. They will thoroughly investigate the report to determine its authenticity.”

“While we uphold the importance of press freedom, at the same time we urge the media to ensure that their reporting is accurate and does not include any disinformation while presenting any news.”

Shafiqul said the government expect that media outlets engage in responsible journalism, which holds the government accountable while contributing to national progress.

Referring to another report published by the same daily, which involved alleged financial transactions via check related to the appointment of deputy commissioners, he said the claim had already been investigated and proven untrue.

The controversy began following a Kalbela report on September 24, which alleged that a businessman offered a Tk 3 crore check to a joint secretary in the Ministry of Public Administration to secure the appointment of Anti-Corruption Commission Director Md Abdul Awal as the deputy commissioner of Naogaon.

Later, it published another report yesterday implicating Public Administration Secretary Mokhlesur Rahman and Joint Secretary Zia Uddin in a conversation where Mokhlesur allegedly requested Tk 5 crore for a DC appointment, while Zia Uddin reportedly offered Tk 10 crore.

Earlier in the day, Mokhlesur denied the allegations made in the initial report, calling it “fake news”.

“The allegations are baseless, and no transactions occurred during the DC (deputy commissioner) appointments,” he said during a press briefing at the Secretariat.