ACC launches investigation against six top NBR officers amid deadlock

Five of them are leading the ongoing complete shutdown movement

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has launched a preliminary inquiry against six officers of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) involved in the ongoing “complete shutdown” of the government agency.

The charges include causing financial loss to the state through corruption, including facilitating tax evasion in exchange for bribes and amassing illegal wealth, ACC Director General (Prevention) Md Akhtar Hossain said on Sunday.

ACC says five of them are “prominently involved” in the movement that has paralysed NBR operations for over two months, with escalating impacts on trade and revenue collection.

Those being investigated are Tax Commissioner AKM Badiul Alam, Additional Tax Commissioner Mirza Ashiq Rana, senior vice-president of the NBR Reform Unity Council, Joint Tax Commissioners Mohammad Morshed Uddin Khan, a council member, and Monalisa Shahreen Sushmita, council vice-president, and Additional Commissioners Hasan Tarek Rikabder, council president, and Sadhan Kumar Kundu.

Among them, all except Badiul Alam have been at the forefront of the protest demanding the resignation of the NBR chairman.

Rana, Morshed, Monalisa, and Rikabder were also named as members of a delegation that was scheduled to meet Finance Advisor Salehuddin Ahmed on Sunday. Sadhan has been a visible figure at several press conferences representing the protesters.

According to ACC documents, corrupt NBR officials have routinely collected large sums in bribes in exchange for lowering tax liabilities for business owners and individuals. In several instances, these officials allegedly filed false tax evasion cases to harass those who refused to pay bribes.

The commission also noted recurring irregularities in the process of refunding advance and excess tax payments to honest taxpayers.

“Many taxpayers pay advance or excess tax, which should be refunded,” an official summary read.

“But according to analysis and complaints, the refund process often requires bribes up to half the refund amount. The officials handling these cases have allegedly siphoned off substantial sums in the process.”

The graft watchdog’s probe adds new pressure on the protesting NBR officials, raising the stakes in an already volatile standoff between the government and its revenue workforce.

Last month, an ordinance was issued dividing the NBR into two separate departments, Revenue Management and Revenue Policy. NBR officials launched a protest demanding the scrapping of the decision, including a pen-down protest.

The government backed down in the face of their protest. They said discussions would be held with NBR officials and employees to implement the ordinance.

Even after they rejoined work the protesters remained steadfast in demanding the resignation of the NBR chairman and declared him “undesirable”.

Later, the NBR chairman returned to the office under tight security from the Army and law-enforcing agencies.

When he returned to the office, Rahman issued “stand releases” to some of the protesting officials and did not allocate rooms for them to hold seminars. This led to the officials distancing themselves from him on various issues.

On Saturday, NBR workers launched a “complete shutdown” of operations, halting customs and taxation services nationwide, and freezing import-export activity.

In response, the interim government declared all services under NBR, including customs houses, ICDs, bond commissionerates, and tariff stations, as “essential” in the interest of keeping vital trade flows operational.

It also urged protesting staff to return to work immediately and warned that failure to comply would force the government to take “stern measures to protect the public and the economy.”

The ACC's announcement of the probe came just hours after the government’s declaration of the NBR as an essential service.