Guidelines were established within given deadline, says ACC

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has maintained that they had established the required guidelines mandated under the Criminal Procedure Act, within the given deadline.

In a statement released on Friday night, the commission revealed that the Criminal Procedure Act, established and put into effect from July 2, 2017, states that guidelines regarding investigations are required to be established within three months.

The statement was released in response to report by some local media outlets that a motion had been submitted at the People’s Majlis, which revolves around failure to attend legal responsibilities of ACC members.

As such, ACC cited Article 211 of the Criminal Procedure Act, which reads that the guidelines under the law are required to be established within three months dated October 2017, from the beginning of the implementation of the law.

The commission revealed that they had been following the procedure publicized in the government gazette during December 2010, before the law can into effect.

The guideline was formed to ensure just investigations and procedures, said ACC.

However, since the Criminal Procedure Act came into effect, the commission had nullified the previous guidelines and established new ones which they have been following since April 2017.

With this being said, ACC also revealed that they are the first institution to have established the guidelines as mandated under the act and publicized them in the government gazette.

While it has been two years since the commission began following the new guidelines, work had commenced on reviewing and amending general guidelines of the commission after the members took oath of office.

In light of this, ACC refuted the claims that the guidelines mandated under the procedure are non-existent, brushing them off as completely false.