The incidence of bribery in law enforcement agencies, judiciary, electricity authorities, banks and tax department declined during January-June 2007 period following the anti-corruption drive undertaken by the caretaker government.
On the other hand, the incidence of bribery increased in education, health, land administration, local government and NGOs during the period.
These were the findings of a sample survey on the National Household Survey 2007 on Corruption in Bangladesh carried out by Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB).
According to the survey, nationally, households paid Tk 54.43 billion as bribe for receiving service from different services sectors.
Responding to questions, TIB Board of Trustee chairman Professor Muzaffer Ahmad said the government has failed to ensure good governance as the bribery has increased in some sectors and decreased in others.
"But my personal observation is that the incidence of petty corruption rose significantly in the country during the period under review," Muzaffer said.
"The overall incidence of bribery has been found to be marginally higher in July-December 2006 than that of January-June 2007 period," the survey report said.
While releasing the findings of survey at a press conference Wednesday at National Press Club, TIB executive director Iftekharuzzaman said: "Severity of corruption we have seen during the past two governments still exists."
"It is very disappointing."
Law-enforcement agencies and the judiciary were among the sectors witnessing less corruption in 2007 than in 2006, TIB said.
But law-enforcement agencies were still on the top of the corruption list, according to the report.
A staggering 96.6 per cent of households interacting with law enforcement agencies experienced corruption, the report said.
Muzaffer Ahmad said: "The rate of petty corruption increased after 1/11."
"The report found corruption reduced in some sectors. It also showed many sectors with a higher rate of graft too," he said.
Distribution of bribery was found most prevalent in land administration, according to the report. Officials in the sector received a total of Tk 16.06 billion (1,606 crore) in bribe in one year. The judiciary came second with officials taking Tk 6.71 billion (671 crore) in bribe in one year, according to the report.
Overall 66.7 per cent of households experienced corruption in interactions with different services sectors, the TIB report said.
Bribery and neglect of duty were the two most frequent forms of corruption experienced by the households surveyed, with the two together claiming 76.9 per cent of the total.
The survey conducted on 5000 households spotted corruption in six common forms: bribery, neglect of duty, nepotism, embezzlement, deception and extortion.
Meanwhile, the findings of the survey show that incidence of bribery during January-June 2007 rose in education sector by 44.5 per cent over July-December 2006 at 12.5 per cent, health, by 36.9 per cent, land administration, by 45.1 per cent, local government, by 47.9 per cent and NGOs, 35.7 per cent.
During January-June 2007, incidence of bribery declined in law enforcement by 37.3 per cent, judiciary 28.8 per cent, electricity by 38.7 per cent, banking by 22.7 per cent and tax by 34.9 per cent over July-December 2006 period.
The report also said some 42.1 per cent households had to pay bribe for receiving service from different sectors.
On an average household had to pay Tk 4134 as bribe for receiving services from different sectors and per person bribe stood at Tk 861 during 2007 period, the report said.
The survey conducted for the period of July 2006 and June 2007 said that 64.5 per cent who interacted with law enforcement agencies were forced to pay bribe.
They were forced to pay on an average Tk 10,927 for avoiding arrests, Tk 3,983, for lodging First Information Report (FIR), Tk 2,605 for police verification, TK 1,703 for framing charge sheet, Tk 795 for making general diary, the survey said.
The survey claimed that the purview of law enforcing agencies include police, joint forces, Ansar and Village Defence Party (VDP).
The survey showed that 41.7 per cent of the households who interacted with the judiciary had to pay bribe for receiving services.
It said households had to pay on an average Tk 5124 for receiving services in magistrate courts, Tk 5516 in judges' courts, Tk 2571 in High Court and Tk 5840 for special courts.
According to the survey, 53.7 per cent of households had to pay bribes while during receiving services from different electricity entities.
The incidence of harassment and corruption in the DESCO was found to be at the highest at 73.9 per cent, the PDB at 44.0 per cent and the bribery situation is almost similar in Rural Electrification Board.
Among the income-tax payers, 20.7 per cent paid bribe in the process of tax payment with the average amount of bribe estimated at Tk 5282.
Households paid bribes mainly for reduction of income tax and relief from harassment, the report said.
While paying the holding tax, about 3.0 per cent households paid bribe during reference year of 2007. The average amount of bribe annually paid by the households was Tk 619, which is over 79 per cent of the gross amount of tax.
The single most important reason mentioned by holding tax payers for paying bribe was to reduce the tax amount.
Among the loan recipients, 32 per cent had to pay bribe to get loans, the report said.
Bribery is much higher in state-owned banks than that of private banks. Rural borrowers had to pay bribes in higher proportion (34 per cent) than their urban counterparts.
On an average borrowers paid Tk 5071 as bribe while receiving loans.
Among the bribe payers, 43 per cent reported that they paid bribe to the concerned bank officers, 18.1 per cent to branch managers and 19.9 per cent paid to other bank employees, the survey said.
Respondents of the survey said they had to pay Tk 620 as bribe on an average while receiving non-credit services from the banks.
The survey said harassment to be the most prevalent (57 per cent) of irregularities experienced by the households in interactions with local government bodies followed by bribery (41.8 per cent).
The average amount of bribe paid was the highest for obtaining clearance for a house building plan at Tk 5005 followed by installation of a tube well at Tk 3120.
Household had to pay on an average Tk 828 for collecting fertiliser and Tk 493 for obtaining a trade licence.
Among the micro-credit receivers from the NGOs, 7.5 per cent respondents reported to have paid bribe for the service at an average rate of Tk 299 per transaction.
On an average, households paid Tk 4409 as bribe to land offices. The rate of bribe in land administration was reportedly at the highest level for allotment of Khas land. The overall bribe for allotment of Khas land was Tk 5680.
Overall bribe paid by the households for land registration was Tk 4237, they paid Tk 3857 for land survey, Tk 3303 for mutation, Tk 1857 for land selling and purchase, Tk 1639 for withdrawal of documents and Tk 1170 for yearly tax payment in land offices during 2007, the survey said.
The survey said to get 'Upabritty' (stipends or scholarship money), 74.6 per cent paid on an average Tk 90.72 as bribe or commission for the scholarships.
However, the survey advocated for the establishing a cell in the ministry for regularly monitoring transparency and accountability in institutions, provision for citizen charters, implementation of UN convention against corruption, independent and effective functioning of the watchdogs bodies, ensuring e-governance and others.
