Bangladesh now ranked 10th in TI's global corruption index
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
FE Report
Bangladesh is ranked the world's 10th most corrupt nation as graft still endemic here and soaring in cases of 'petty ones' despite a nationwide crackdown by the caretaker government, the Transparency International said.
The Berlin-based global graft watchdog said Bangladesh's ranking was dropped three places from last year's seventh, due largely to worsening grades that other countries have received in its ranking.
In the latest TI score-sheet released across the globe on Tuesday, Bangladesh received 2.1 points and was positioned 147th along with Kenya, Russia and Syria among 180 countries covered by the watchdog.
The country was ranked the world's most corrupt nation five times in a row, spanning from 2001, the last year of Awami League government, to 2005 when the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was in power.
Civil-war torn Somalia topped the list this year as the world's most corrupt country while Junta-ruled Myanmar and war-ravaged Iraq jointly took the second position. Impoverished Haiti was third followed by Afghanistan.
Officials of the local chapter of the TI said the apparent improvement in Bangladesh's corruption status was "statistically insignificant."
"Although Bangladesh got the 10th position in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI), it does not mean corruption has declined in Bangladesh," TI, Bangladesh trustee board chairman Muzaffar Ahmed said.
"Corruption is still endemic and systematic in Bangladesh. And petty corruption has increased in number and intensity since this government took over last year," he said.
Immediately after it took over on January 12, 2007 the caretaker government launched a nationwide crackdown on corruption, with active supports from the TIB and the civil society.
Hundreds of top politicians, including two former prime ministers, dozens of ex-ministers and lawmakers and businessmen were arrested and detained for months as the government vowed to clean up the country's corrupt image.
Muzaffer said lack of institutional and administrative reforms and inadequate oversight by the judiciary eventually put paid the people's expectations for a better result in the drive.
"When the government launched the drive, it raised people's expectations to a great extent. But the people are now frustrated. There is no impact of the drive on public morale," Ahmed said.
The anti-graft drive has failed to bring any good for common people, he said, adding until the government carried out sweeping administrative and institutional reforms, graft would remain endemic here.
Ahmed said the government started the drive with a "shock treatment" but due to hurried process in charge framing, shortcomings in investigations and lack of coordination among relevant agencies, it could not see a positive end.
Legal experts including several law professors last week said the much talked-about anti-graft drive was falling apart due to sloppy legal work and lack of expertise by the newly anti-corruption commission.
The Anti-Corruption Commission also admitted hiccups in the drive, with its spokesman saying the mistakes were due to its "lack of expertise, experience and exposure."
TI executive director Ifekharuzzaman, who uses one name, said the drive crumbled because "the judiciary was influenced" to release the tainted scores politicians on bails.
"If the judiciary was not influenced, Bangladesh's position would have been better in the corruption index," he said.
He urged the next elected government to continue the work initiated by the caretaker government.
"If the drive is not continued during the next government's
tenure, the country may fall back into the previous position," he said.
In the latest TI index Denmark, New Zealand and Sweden are perceived least corrupt, each scoring 9.3, closely followed by Singapore with 9.2, the only Asian country that has consistently been in the group of the top 10.
The only other Asian country to be among the top 20 countries is Hong Kong ranked at number 12. Neighbouring India is ranked 85th scoring 3.4 score and Pakistan 134th with 2.5 points.
The annual CPI, first released in 1995, is the most well-known of TI's tools. The CPI ranks 180 countries by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys.
It ranks countries in terms of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians.
In 1996, Bangladesh scored 1.2, the lowest in the index. It took 10 years for Bangladesh to score two points. A country that scores less than three is considered to be widely corrupt.
Bangladesh is ranked the world's 10th most corrupt nation as graft still endemic here and soaring in cases of 'petty ones' despite a nationwide crackdown by the caretaker government, the Transparency International said.
The Berlin-based global graft watchdog said Bangladesh's ranking was dropped three places from last year's seventh, due largely to worsening grades that other countries have received in its ranking.
In the latest TI score-sheet released across the globe on Tuesday, Bangladesh received 2.1 points and was positioned 147th along with Kenya, Russia and Syria among 180 countries covered by the watchdog.
The country was ranked the world's most corrupt nation five times in a row, spanning from 2001, the last year of Awami League government, to 2005 when the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was in power.
Civil-war torn Somalia topped the list this year as the world's most corrupt country while Junta-ruled Myanmar and war-ravaged Iraq jointly took the second position. Impoverished Haiti was third followed by Afghanistan.
Officials of the local chapter of the TI said the apparent improvement in Bangladesh's corruption status was "statistically insignificant."
"Although Bangladesh got the 10th position in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI), it does not mean corruption has declined in Bangladesh," TI, Bangladesh trustee board chairman Muzaffar Ahmed said.
"Corruption is still endemic and systematic in Bangladesh. And petty corruption has increased in number and intensity since this government took over last year," he said.
Immediately after it took over on January 12, 2007 the caretaker government launched a nationwide crackdown on corruption, with active supports from the TIB and the civil society.
Hundreds of top politicians, including two former prime ministers, dozens of ex-ministers and lawmakers and businessmen were arrested and detained for months as the government vowed to clean up the country's corrupt image.
Muzaffer said lack of institutional and administrative reforms and inadequate oversight by the judiciary eventually put paid the people's expectations for a better result in the drive.
"When the government launched the drive, it raised people's expectations to a great extent. But the people are now frustrated. There is no impact of the drive on public morale," Ahmed said.
The anti-graft drive has failed to bring any good for common people, he said, adding until the government carried out sweeping administrative and institutional reforms, graft would remain endemic here.
Ahmed said the government started the drive with a "shock treatment" but due to hurried process in charge framing, shortcomings in investigations and lack of coordination among relevant agencies, it could not see a positive end.
Legal experts including several law professors last week said the much talked-about anti-graft drive was falling apart due to sloppy legal work and lack of expertise by the newly anti-corruption commission.
The Anti-Corruption Commission also admitted hiccups in the drive, with its spokesman saying the mistakes were due to its "lack of expertise, experience and exposure."
TI executive director Ifekharuzzaman, who uses one name, said the drive crumbled because "the judiciary was influenced" to release the tainted scores politicians on bails.
"If the judiciary was not influenced, Bangladesh's position would have been better in the corruption index," he said.
He urged the next elected government to continue the work initiated by the caretaker government.
"If the drive is not continued during the next government's
tenure, the country may fall back into the previous position," he said.
In the latest TI index Denmark, New Zealand and Sweden are perceived least corrupt, each scoring 9.3, closely followed by Singapore with 9.2, the only Asian country that has consistently been in the group of the top 10.
The only other Asian country to be among the top 20 countries is Hong Kong ranked at number 12. Neighbouring India is ranked 85th scoring 3.4 score and Pakistan 134th with 2.5 points.
The annual CPI, first released in 1995, is the most well-known of TI's tools. The CPI ranks 180 countries by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys.
It ranks countries in terms of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians.
In 1996, Bangladesh scored 1.2, the lowest in the index. It took 10 years for Bangladesh to score two points. A country that scores less than three is considered to be widely corrupt.