Bangladesh approves graft truth commission

BANGLADESH: Bangladesh's emergency government has approved the creation of a truth commission to let people confess to graft and avoid jail as long as they refund ill-gotten gains, officials said Monday. The Voluntary Disclosure of Information Ordinance was approved late Sunday for a period of five months, the army-backed government said.

"Anyone can take this opportunity of clemency if he makes voluntarily disclosures about his ill-gotten wealth," it said.

The new commission, aimed at clearing a massive backlog of corruption cases, comes as the government, which came to power in January 2006, faces a self-imposed deadline of late 2008 to hold new elections. Dhaka, Monday, AFP