The Transparency International (TI) yesterday said the Bangladesh government has failed to curb corruption in the country as it formed the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) not out of “political will” but as a “concession” to the donor and civil society pressure.

A TI report released yesterday also partly blamed a high level of corruption in the National Board of Revenue (NBR) for the “extremely

low level of internal revenue collection”. “Many tax officials are believed to aid tax evaders upon receipt of a bribe,” it noted.

In its section on Bangladesh, the “Global Corruption Report 2006” said, “Since the key stimulus to set up the [ACC] came from a combination of civil society demands and pressure from international donors, it could be argued that the government made the concession reluctantly, rather than out of genuine political will.”

The TI report also noted govern-

ment control of the ACC as the most problematic hindrance to curbing corruption as “the government retains authority over key policy issues, such as budget, staff recruitment and organisational structure.”

It said the credibility of the ACC has been severely damaged because of its decision to rehire the staff of the erstwhile Bureau of AntiCorruption, which was dissolved for being ineffective.

The report doubted the ACC

commissioner's “capacity to provide the leadership needed for the challenging tasks ahead” as decisions on personnel appointments and transfers were taken without consultation with the three commission members, contrary to the provisions of the ACC Act.

Referring to what the TI termed “extremely low level of internal revenue collection”, the report observed that the appointment of a tax ombudsman was awaiting approval from the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs despite continued demands from the civil society and business community.

Citing the absence of information about the tax ombudsman's “independence, investigative powers and resources”, the TI report said “it is still questionable whether [the ombudsman] will prove an adequate response to corruption in the NBR.”

The report also contained a brief overview of corruption in the Customs Department and questioned the professionalism of the police force in the country.

Referring to how corruption deprives millions of essential medical care, the globally released report stressed that stamping out corruption in the health sector is a “matter of life and death”, a press release said quoting the report.

“Corruption in health care costs more than money. When an infant dies during an operation because an adrenalin injection to restart her heart was actually just water--how do you put a price to that?” the press release quoted TI Chairperson Huguette Labelle as saying.