BD 2nd highest corrupt nation in S Asia

Bangladesh ranked 14th from the bottom in the Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2014, two notches worse than last year’s 16th position, showing that the country’s overall corruption scenario has deteriorated compared to the previous year. The CPI also revealed that Bangladesh is the 2nd highest corrupt nation in South Asia after Pakistan which occupies the No 1 corrupt nation’s position in the Saarc region. Executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Dr Iftekharuzzaman unveiled the annual CPI at a press conference in the city on Wednesday. The global graft index shows that Bangladesh scored 25 points out of 100, two points less from 27 last year when it became 16th in the CPI. This year, Bangladesh has been ranked 145th from the top among the 175 countries while it was 136th last year. The index covers 175 countries and territories on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean), says the TI study released globally. Bangladesh had ranked 13th from the bottom in 2011 (183 countries) and 2012 (176 countries). The CPI revealed that Bangladesh is the second highest corrupt nation in the South Asia scoring 25 followed by Pakistan (29), Nepal (29), India (38) and Sri Lanka (38).  Afghanistan (12) is on the top of the corrupt countries in South Asia while Bhutan (65) is the least corrupt nation, according to a news agency.