After identifying 19 sources of graft, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) submitted on Sunday two separate investigation reports to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism and Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB).
The national anti-graft watchdog also put forward a set of recommendations in the reports prepared by its institutional team on the ministry and CAAB to help curb corruption there.
ACC Commissioner Dr Md Mozammel Haque Khan handed over the reports to State Minister for Civil Aviation Md Mahbub Ali at the secretariat in the city. Secretary of the ministry Md Mohibul Haque was also present.
Eight key sources of corruption in the civil aviation and tourism ministry are: aircraft purchase and lease, maintenance and overhaul of aircraft, aircraft ground handling, cargo export-import, manipulation of the number of transit and layover passengers, excessive baggage charge, air ticketing and food catering.
ACC also identified 11 sources of graft in CAAB including procurement, construction and development works, asset management, renting spaces, stall and billboard at the airport, consultant appointment, officials' training abroad, delay in implementation of Montreal Convention, renovation and maintenance work, licencing pilots, flying engineers and aircraft, approval for flight frequency and schedule and weakness in operational work.
Handing over the reports to the state minister, the ACC commissioner said the commission has formed 25 institutional teams to detect sources of graft in different government departments and make recommendations for respective ministries to reduce corruption there.
He said the ACC has identified specific sectors of corruption in the civil aviation and tourism ministry and CAAB and made set of recommendations to bring change in the country's aviation sector.
In the report submitted to the ministry, ACC recommended forming a purchase committee comprising local and international experts to look into the legitimacy of costly procurement and scrutinise tenders with specification and estimation.
To reduce influence of middlemen and bribery, the ministry can make term supply contract with multiple international companies through open tender for regular procurement.
E-tendering should be made mandatory for the ministry to regulate purchasing spare parts and equipment for maintenance and overhaul of aircraft.
Mentioning that ground handling at the airport is a big source of earnings and a sector of huge employment, ACC recommended that the airport should sign agreement with an internationally-renowned ground handler for three to five years to gain expertise in the sector.
Weighing cargo of Biman should be monitored regularly and the process should be digitised to prevent graft. The number of transit and layover passengers needs to be monitored through software by linking it with flights.
Bangladesh Biman Airlines should update its website in time so that passengers and service givers can receive services like e-ticketing, e-reservation and e-procurement.
In another report submitted to CAAB, the commission suggested monitoring construction and development works of the authority through forming committee comprising experts from different organisations including Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).
The authority should review allocation of shops and renting billboards at the airport and should scrap illegal allocations.
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