The Anti-Corruption Commission has started scrutinising allegations against 123 people, including former inspector general of police Javed Patwary, of receiving money and apartments in exchange for writing and editing the book ‘Unfinished Memoirs’, published in the name of the country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
ACC director general Md Akhter Hossain came up with the information in reply to a question from journalists at a press briefing of the commission on Sunday.
Noting that a recent media report on the issue had drawn the commission’s attention, he said that an intelligence inquiry was being conducted and further steps would be taken after verifying the allegations.
A private television channel, ‘Channel 24’, in a report on August 16, claimed that former police chief Javed Patwary secured his position by writing the memoir on Sheikh Mujib’s behalf.
The report alleged that each of the 123 members of Javed’s team received money in cash, apartments, and other government benefits in return.
According to the report, Unfinished Memoirs was first published in 2012. In its foreword, former prime minister Sheikh Hasina wrote that the book was prepared after editing and revising four notebooks left behind by Sheikh Mujib, covering the Pakistan Movement, the Language Movement, and different plots by the Pakistani ruling class.
The ACC said that it was collecting detailed information before taking legal action.
