FE Report
Bangladesh has asked the United Kingdom (UK) to 'rethink' the way the British government looks at the country's graft in view of the current initiatives to crack down on corruption.
The government has urged the Department for International Development (DFID), Britain's official development agency, to delete the observations made in its draft Country Strategy Paper that painted Bangladesh as one of the most corrupt and communal nations, a competent source said.
The request came in a letter forwarded Wednesday to the DFID headquarters in London that called for the deletion of previous observations about the country's graft situation, the source added.
The DFID sent the paper outlining the aid strategy for Bangladesh over the next couple of years in March, seeking comments on it.
The source noted the paper criticised the country's political and institutional corruption, saying graft remains a major drag on the economy.
"The paper has not mentioned the ongoing nationwide anti-corruption drive that is seeking to root out political corruption. For this reason, the government side has requested the DFID headquarters to update information about Bangladesh," the source pointed out.
"We've asked them (DFID) to delete the previous observations and include the steps taken by the present interim administration to combat corruption," a government official said.
The official noted that the DFID requested the government side to send its comments on the draft strategic paper by April 25, but the latter made delays in sending the remarks.
In its letter, the government side has sought to explain that the previous observations about Bangladesh's corruption have lost validity, given the new initiatives to stamp out corruption.
In this context, the letter referred to the examples of the formation of a high-powered national taskforce on serious crime and a special court to expedite the trials of the imprisoned people arrested on charges of corruption.
It also contradicted with the paper's views on Bangladesh's record in maintaining communal harmony, saying the country's minorities were enjoying far larger freedom than their counterparts in India and Sri Lanka in the region.
The UK remains the country's one of the largest bilateral donors, with its annual aid touching to US$ 250 million.
Transparency International, the Berlin-based anti-sleaze body, rated Bangladesh as the most corrupt nation in the world for five years in a row until 2005.
However, the country managed to improve its ranking 'slightly' last year, although it continued to be placed on the bottom rung of the world's most corrupt nations.
Since taking power in January, the present caretaker authority headed by Fakhruddin Ahmed has intensified its drive against the endemic corruption. Hundreds of political leaders, businessmen and bureaucrats have been rounded up on charges of corruption and are facing legal action, while many others have gone into hiding to avoid arrests.
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