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Graft rising

TI's perception index finds Bangladesh 14th most corrupt country in world; weak ACC, govt influence seen as main reasons

Staff Correspondent
Corruption rose in Bangladesh with the country sliding two notches to rank the 14th most corrupt country in the world, according to this year's Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International.
The country scored 25 points out of 100, two points less than last year's, shows the index released globally by the Berlin-based graft watchdog yesterday.
TI Bangladesh shared the findings of the global survey at a crowded press conference at Jatiya Press Club in the capital.
In South Asia, Bangladesh remains the second most corrupt country after Afghanistan as in the previous year.
In the region, Bhutan is the least
corrupt country followed by Sri Lanka, India, Nepal and Pakistan, according to the index.
Globally, Bangladesh's ranking fell nine steps from the top. It is ranked 145th among 175 countries surveyed this year. Bangladesh shares the position with Guinea, Laos, Kenya and Papua New Guinea.
Followed by New Zealand and Finland, Denmark ranked the least corrupt country in the world while Somalia and North Korea jointly sit at the bottom of the list.
TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman said Bangladesh's profile was overshadowed by the government's failure to fight corruption, curtailment of Anti-Corruption Commission's independence and lack of professionalism and moral courage of the ACC, and grabbing of land, rivers and wetlands.
Hall-Mark, Destiny and share market scams, Padma Bridge corruption conspiracy and graft over railway recruitment contributed to Bangladesh's poor ranking.
Besides, the Rana Plaza collapse and cases of loan defaulters having political links were among the deciding factors.
"The highest deposit of ill-gotten money with the Swiss Bank was from Bangladesh last year while the second highest number of buyers of 'second home scheme' in Malaysia is also from Bangladesh," he said, giving examples of the powerful quarters' wealth accumulation disproportionate to their known income.
This is just an outcome of corruption in a collective manner at political and administrative levels, he said.
TIB Chairperson Sultana Kamal said, "The government's sweeping denial of corruption and a culture of impunity and protection of those accused of corruption have contributed to Bangladesh's downslide."
Corruption in Bangladesh goes unchecked, as constitutional bodies like parliament and judiciary as well as statutory bodies such as the Human Rights Commission, the ACC and Information Commission cannot assert power and play due role for the executive branch's overriding influence everywhere, she said.
"We get the government's reaction to corruption perception but no response to prevent it," said Sultana Kamal, also a prominent human rights activist.
There is hardly any other country like Bangladesh where general people are so deeply affected as a consequence of corruption of the powerful quarters. Deaths in road crash, for example, are just a consequence of some kind of corruption, she said.
The survey findings suggested having a functional parliament, an effective and independent ACC, rule of law, freeing law enforcement agen-
cies from political influence, and coordination among the ACC, the agencies, the attorney general, the comptroller and auditor general, National Board of Revenue and Bangladesh Bank to overcome the dismal situation.
In his reaction, ACC Commissioner M Shahabuddin Chuppu said the report didn't reflect the actual situation.
The cases of Hall-Mark and Destiny scams, railway recruitment corruption and forgery of freedom fighter certificates were turned into success stories, as powerful people involved in the scams were brought to book, he said.
If considered from a practical perspective, the TI findings would not be acceptable, he said.
Bangladesh sat at the bottom of the global ranking for five consecutive years from 2001 to 2005. In the subsequent years till 2012, the country hovered between the third and the 13th position from the bottom of the list.
The Corruption Perception Index, which defines corruption as abuse of public office for private and political gains, is prepared on the basis of data collected from multiple globally-credible sources, said Iftekharuzzaman.
Bangladesh's rating in corruption perception this year is based on findings gathered from seven globally-reputable survey sources against a minimum requirement of three, he said.
No data generated by any of TI's local chapter was considered for the analysis or global rating.
The surveys, used for rating Bangladesh, included Economist Intelligence Unit-Country Risk Assessment, Global Insight Country Risk Ratings, International Country Risk Guide, World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment, World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey, World Justice Project-Rule of Law Index and Bertelsmann Foundation Transformation Index.
The analysis was based on data collected over a period of three and a half years between 2011 and 2014.
In an instant reaction, BNP Standing Committee member Abdul Moyeen Khan said the TIB report proved that corruption rose in the country.
"Graft is rising day by day as there is no transparency in the administration and the government," the BNP leader said at a discussion at Jatiya Press Club.
Corruption has always gone up during the tenure of Awami League government, he claimed.