BD inches up in global graft index

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FE Report Corruption remains a cause of "great concern" in Bangladesh, but the overall graft scenario has improved very modestly thanks to new laws and creation of key bodies by the government, the global graft watchdog Transparency International said Thursday. Bangladesh stood 13th from the bottom in the latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released by the Berlin-based TI, placing the country ahead of Nepal, Pakistan and the Maldives in the South Asian region. The country has scored 2.7 points securing the 120th spot among the 182 countries surveyed by the TI. It shared the position with Ecuador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Iran, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Mozambique and Solomon Islands. It ranked 134th and had 2.4 points in 2010.Bangladesh was perceived to be the most corrupt country in the world between 2001 and 2005, scoring the lowest in the CPI. But this year war-wrecked Somalia and communist North Korea shared the 'distinction' by earning one point each. Transparency International, Bangladesh, the local chapter of the German-based group, said drafting of key laws and establishment of important state agencies helped Bangladesh move up in the CPI ladder. A TI report on Bangladesh's graft situation noted "seven achievements" including reaffirmation of strong electoral commitment, formulation of Right to Information Act and Whistleblower Protection Act, establishment of Information Commission and Human Rights Commission. It said citizens charter in service delivery institutions, anti-graft training in government institutions and formulation of implementation strategy of the UN convention against corruption have also helped Dhaka's cause. But TIB executive director Iftekharuzzman warned against any complacency, saying the graft situation in Bangladesh was widespread and remained a key barrier to economic growth and poverty reduction. "Although Bangladesh has made little improvement in CPI score and rank, it still remains in the category of nations where corruption is considered to be of great concern," he said He added that achieving five points in the CPI generally indicates success in moderate control of corruption, meaning Dhaka needed to make rapid stride if it was to improve its image to the outside world. "Bangladesh is still moving around three-point mark. It's a long way to go to achieve the expected level of improvement in the index," he said. According to the CPI, New Zealand is the world's most graft-free nation as it secured 9.5 points out of 10 followed by Denmark and Finland (9.4), Sweden (9.3), Singapore (9.2), Norway (9), the Netherlands (8.9), Australia and Switzerland (8.8), Canada (8.7), Luxemburg (8.5) and Hong Kong (8.4). Countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Austria and Belgium have scored less than 8.0 each, highlighting that corruption remains a serious global problem. The US has done worse than Qatar, Chile, Bahamas and Barbados. The TIB ED said Bangladesh's corruption scenario was evaluated from surveys by nine credible global institutions, which made the assessment between January 2010 and December 2010. The perception comes from country experts including residents and non-residents, business leaders, analysts and investors. The nine surveyors are Asian Development Bank country performance assessment 2010, Bertelsmann Foundation Transformation Index, Economist Intelligence Unit Country Risk Assessment, Global Insight Country Risk Ratings, Political Risk Services International Country Risk Guide, World Bank - Country Performance and Institutional Assessment, World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey 2010 and 2011 and World Justice Project Rule of Law Index. One drawback in the Bangladesh's ranking is that it reflects the graft situation in 2010, not in 2011 when the bidding of the country's costliest development project, Padma Bridge, was tainted by graft allegations, he said. In South Asia, Bhutan was perceived to be the least corrupt, earning a respectable 5.7 points, which is higher than many developed nations like Poland (5.5), South Korea (5.4), Hungary (4.6) and Italy (3.9). But India's position (3.1) went down by 0.02 points from the last year and now stands 17th from the bottom. The TIB said factors like the government's proposed move to amend the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) Act might have slowed Bangladesh's progress in the CPI. The pervasive culture of parliament boycott and conflict of interest among the parties, keeping the provision to legalise undisclosed 'black' money in the budget, amendment to public procurement rules and partisan political influence in the administration and other public services are also no positive points, he added. "Some 76 per cent of the total working hours in the Parliament has been lost due to absence of the opposition. The parliamentary standing committees could not play an effective role to curb corruption," Mr. Iftekharuzzaman said. He added that independence of the anti-graft watchdog will seriously be undermined if the government amends the ACC Act that will definitely affect the CPI in the coming days. "Already the ACC officials can not perform independently due to such move. The move to amend the ACC Act should be binned immediately," he said. The government should fulfill its election pledges without fear or favour by further strengthening institutional and policy framework like ACC, Election Commission, parliament, particularly its standing committees. It must enforce the recently-enacted right to information laws and foster culture of disclosure, bring transparency in public procurements and implement the United Nation Convention Against Corruption if it was to secure a desired level of improvement in the CPI. About the Padma Bridge corruption allegation, TIB chairperson Sultana Kamal said the government should take immediate action against the alleged wrong-doers. "This year's improvement in the CPI can easily worsen next year. It's a question of sustainability. The CPI could be affected in the near future as the issues like the Padma Bride bidding has not been considered in the latest report," she said. In October anti-poverty lender World Bank suspended funding of $1.2 billion for the 6.15-km-long rail-cum-road bridge over the river Padma after alleging that the bidding process was influenced by local officials.