Career Development Centre (CDC) > Bangladesh Civil Service-BCS

Corruption – Towards kleptocratic state capture

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Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker:
2013 was a year of lost opportunity in terms of prospect of corruption control, and in fact, much more. It was a year of blatant denials in the face of credible allegations of high profile corruption. Corruption continued to cause huge loss to the economy and unbearable burden to the common people.  We also saw how corruption killed people. Corrupt forces gained more influence and power in the policy and governance structure. It unleashed a shameless picture of questionable accumulation of wealth of people in positions of power inconsistent with legitimate sources of income. Ever-increasing premium of holding power reinforced the zero-sum game of politics. To cap it all, indicators of kleptocratic state capture have taken deeper roots.

At the end of this last year of the tenure of a Government that came to power with anti-corruption as one of top priority pledges that ensured it a huge popular mandate, one can also recall some positive efforts that were taken. The Parliament, the key institution of democratic accountability, started off well. While in the eighth parliament forming of parliamentary committees took over 18 months, the present ruling party can claim some credit for forming all such committees in the very first session after election. Some committees have been active, though conflict of interest remained a key predicament against delivery. Expectations of an effective Parliament were further shattered from the very first session due to boycott by the opposition, who abstained from about 90% of working hours of the House.

The right to information act 2009 was passed in the first session, followed by the protection of information disclosure act in 2011. If effectively enforced, these could go a long way in corruption control. Among other positive initiatives were anti-corruption training of officials in institutions funded by public money; second generation Citizen's Charter in public service delivery institutions; local level IT-supported information centres; and introduction of e-procurement, limited though. These could have opened opportunities for corruption control in service delivery in relevant sectors.

Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker:
Consistent with commitment as a State Party to the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), the anti-money laundering capacity was strengthened, which helped Bangladesh's membership of the Egmont Group. For the first time a success has been achieved in repatriation of stolen assets. The National Integrity Strategy has been adopted raising expectations that key institutions of accountability could move to higher levels of accountability. However, prospects of genuine results have been severely damaged by corruption-friendly acts and initiatives that weakened the national integrity system. Independence, integrity and effectiveness of administration, law enforcement agencies and justice system have continued to be undermined by partisan political influence.

Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker:
The government has shown just before the end of their tenure that it was committed to underperform against their own election pledge. The Anti-corruption Commission Amendment (2013) bill has imposed a mandatory provision on the ACC to secure prior government permission before filing any case against public officials including judges, magistrates or public servants for alleged corruption. Imposition of this unconstitutional and discriminatory provision in a deceitful way that included securing the President's consent in the darkness of night has practically converted the ACC into a toothless and clawless fat cat. The only silver lining is that the former Law Minister who now holds the position of Adviser agreed in an event on the sidelines of the Conference of States Parties to UNCAC held in Panama City that passing the act was a mistake.

Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker:
According to the annual corruption perceptions index of Transparency International, Bangladesh received 27 points this year in a scale of 0-100, one point higher than last year, which is the same as in 2011. No room, therefore, for complacence, especially when we remain far below the global average score of 43, indicating the corruption continues to be a critical challenge for Bangladesh. More disappointingly, although our ranking has improved from 13th from below in 2012 to 16th, we have remained the second lowest among South Asian countries, better than only Afghanistan.

Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker:
On the other hand cost of corruption has continued to grow alarmingly with a particular bias on the common people with modest means. The National Household Survey 2012 released on December 28, by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) showed that 63.7% of the surveyed households have been victims of corruption in one or other selected sector of service delivery. Most important service delivery sectors affecting people's lives such as law enforcement, land administration, justice, health, education and local government, remain gravely affected by corruption.

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