The government has directed all of its employees to submit wealth information every year, instead of every five years.
As per the directive, every government servant must place his/her wealth statement by November 30 this year.
As per the Government Servants (Conduct) Rules 1979, there is a compulsion for the government employees to submit wealth statements. But, many of the government employees do not go by the order. Briefing reporters at Bangladesh Secretariat, Public Administration Ministry Senior Secretary Dr Mokhlesur Rahman on Sunday said all government employees have to file wealth statements for the financial year 2023-24 by November 30 this year.
“However, from next year, the wealth statements of each financial year must be submitted by December 31,” he said.
The senior secretary said that submission of wealth statements for government employees is mandatory from now on.
“The wealth statements would have to be submitted to the authorities concerned in a sealed envelope. It will be considered as a punishable offence under Rules 1979, if any misinformation is included in the wealth statement,” he said.
“This code of conduct will apply to all employees. All officers and employees are called government employees,” he said.
Rahman said that the asset-statement must be submitted in the prescribed table form prepared by the Ministry of Public Administration.
“The prescribed form can be collected from the respective website of Ministries/Division /Departments/Organizations along with the Ministry of Public Administration,” he said. The Ministry of Public Administration has amended the GovernmentServants (Conduct) Rules, 1979 to include these provisionsPreviously, employees were required to submit their asset statements every five years, but this rule was not strictly followed.
The government will not publicly disclose the submitted wealth information but it may be revealed, if ordered by the court or decided by a relevant authority.
On August 25, Prof Muhammad Yunus, Chief Adviser to the interim government, in his address to the nation said, “The government employees should regularly submit their wealth statements.”
“All our advisers will publish their asset details as soon as possible. Regular asset disclosure will be made mandatory for all government servants,” he added.
Besides, the High Court (HC) on July 2 asked the authorities concerned to take the necessary steps to submit wealth statements by government employees and submit a progress report in this regard in three months.
The court also issued a rule, asking authorities concerned to reply as to why it shall not pass an order to submit wealth statements by government employees and why digital records shall not be kept in this regard properly.
