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Anti-Corruption Commission chairman Mohammad Abdul Momen on Tuesday warned that the commission would publicly disclose the names of people who would try to exert pressure on the commission to obstruct graft inquiry and investigation.

Speaking at a views-exchange meeting with journalists on Tuesday at the commission’s headquarters in the capital’s Segunbagicha marking the commission’s founding anniversary, he also said, ‘Those who try to exert pressure — in the future, I will reveal their names.’

Asked whether the ACC faces pressure, he said, ‘Pressure mainly comes on those who are corrupt. If you are not corrupt, if you keep your head straight, the pressure is much less.’

‘Those who want to pressure you will also think twice about whether they should do it. From now on, anyone who tries to exert undue pressure on the ACC, we will reveal their names,’ he added.

Responding to a question about whether the ACC was a ‘toothless tiger’, Momen said, ‘Its teeth are not as sharp as they should have been. The claws haven’t fully grown either. It is somewhere in the middle stage.’

The ACC chairman believes that preventing corruption in different sectors of the country is not the ACC’s responsibility alone.

He proposed harsher punishment for corruption.

‘If the penalty for embezzling Tk 10 crore is set at Tk 100 crore, they wouldn’t dare to do it,’ he said.

Referring to electoral affidavits, Momen said, ‘There is very little time between the submission and finalisation of asset declarations. If the government declared that electoral affidavits must first be submitted to the ACC, we would form a task force.’

‘We might not be able to examine all of them. Not everyone in the country is corrupt. But we could scrutinise key suspects in advance and then forward the information to the Election Commission,’ he added.

Speaking about the national election, the ACC chairman said, ‘We had previously seen the influence of undisclosed money in elections. It may happen again this time.’

Asked whether affidavits would be examined even after the election, he said, ‘There is no reason why they wouldn’t be. We will do it a hundred times.’