In order to ensure transparency the government has launched a process of preparing database on the movable and immovable wealth of all the government employees.
According to sources, the move has been taken for the sake of financial transparency of the government and its employees. The move will also help prevent dishonesty in the activities of the government employees.
As part of the move, the Ministry of Public Administration recently has given a bunch of instructions to different ministries and departments on the issue of Wealth Statement of government employees.
The ministry recently sent letters to all the senior secretaries and secretaries concerned of all the ministries and departments.
As per the letter, all government employees have been asked to submit wealth statement to the Ministry of Public Administration under the Public Service Act-2018. The statement must include detailed description of movable and immovable property.
The Public Administration Ministry in its letter has also asked all the Senior Secretaries and Secretaries of all the ministries and departments to prepare separate lists with information about who have submitted their wealth statements and who did not do it as per the instructions.
It should be mentioned that according to the Government Employees (Conduct) Rules, 1979, there are rules for submission of wealth statement and acquisition or sale of movable and immovable property by government employees after every five years. But government officials and employees are not following this rule.
According to sources, as the government officials are not following the rules, a letter was sent from the Ministry of Public Administration on June 24 last year to the senior secretaries of all ministries and departments to implement the rules in the light of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's directive in this regard. Since then, the ministries and departments have been asking their own officials and employees to obey the rules..
Sources said a section of government officials and employees not financially transparent in their activities are not willing to submit their wealth statement.
State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain, however, said that each of the government employees must have to submit their wealth statement in every five years.
“If anybody does not follow the government instructions, stern action would be taken against him or her”, he said earlier.
Sources said, most of the ministries and divisions do not strictly enforce the mandatory provision and they did not have any system to keep records of wealth statements, according to officials.
An official of the public administration ministry said that they had reminded the ministries and divisions of the provision that all public servants shall submit wealth statements after every five years, showing any increase or decrease in their property declared during their service tenure.
