Curbing institutional graft: A case study of BTCL
Monday, 27 October 2008
Shahiduzzaman Khan
THE Centre for Policy Research and Social Responsibility recently undertook surveys using purposive sampling to assess the opinions of the urban educated group about Bangladesh Telephone Company Limited (BTCL) services. The BTCL is the upgraded version of the BTTB after it was made a corporate entity.
The preliminary results showed that the subscribers of BTCL experienced a variety of problems. The majority of the BTCL respondents (36.1 per cent) complained about poor connection, followed by inoperative phones (34.1 per cent). Many of the respondents also faced problems of irregular billing (12.2 per cent) and exaggerated bills (17.6 per cent).
Faced with the above-mentioned problems with services, 90 per cent of the respondents lodged complaints: 61.4 per cent had complained against core service failure (phone is out of order, poor connection), 31.5 per cent respondents complained against support service failure (irregular billing system etc.) and 7.1 per cent respondents complained against misbehaviour of service staff.
Unfortunately, 83.6 per cent lamented that the BTCL service staff demanded graft from them. Of these respondents, 49.5 per cent mentioned that the demand was direct and 50.5 per cent said the demand was indirect/implied. Surprisingly, 77.0 per cent of them gave in to the demands. It was found that on average the respondents paid Tk.580 as gratuity. The refusal to pay gratuity led to non-cooperation of the service staff for 64.4 per cent of the respondents.
It may also be noted that 67.6 per cent of the respondents expressed their dismay at the payment procedures, which they found wanting, very tiring and time consuming, and 77.8 per cent of the respondents also believed that record keeping of billing information at BTCL was not satisfactory. Only 10.8 per cent of the respondents indicated that the service provider performed the service properly the first time and 10 per cent received the service at the time when BTCL promised to do so. Also, only 10.9 per cent respondents of BTCL found the concerned officers in their chairs. In limited cases (only 12.4 per cent of the respondents), the employees assured the respondents that the problem would be resolved correctly and only 17.5 per cent of the respondents felt secure in their transactions with BTCL.
Some of the glaring corruption cases of the BTCL suggest that in a case of major corruption, BTCL showed deployment of 256 labourers on papers only to transfer files in an almirah. All the labourers were 'deployed' to the head office in the capital to do the task, which a class-four employee could do in a couple of hours.
A section of the corrupt BTCL officials showed the fake deployment to misappropriate huge amount of money, according to confessions by four such officials before the Truth and Accountability Commission (TAC). The TAC denied giving details of the matter, which is one of many graft incidents revealed by the four. The commission has however issued notices to 17 top-level government officials including some BTCL staffs, who are likely to face TAC soon in this connection.
Earlier, the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) published a similar graft incident by BTCL officials in Khulna where they had 'deployed' 122 labourers to install a pan in a toilet. The ACC investigations reveal misappropriation of over Tk 330 million by showing fake deployments at BTCL Khulna offices. The four BTCL officials facing TAC also confessed to budget forgery and drawing huge amount through fake vouchers regularly. Police seized 35 sacks of fake vouchers from BTCL Dhaka offices through which a huge amount of money was drawn by the corrupt staffs. On deployment of 122 people for installing a single pan, TAC chief Justice Habibur Rahman Khan ironically said, "It made me think that BTCL was constructing another Taj Mahal in Khulna."
"This is outrageous. It must have been done in connivance with each other. It has to be confirmed whether the auditors were also involved or not. And it must be worked out why the government mechanism failed to check such graft," commented Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Chairman Prof Mozaffer Ahmad. He asked: "How come deploying such a huge number of people for tasks like installing a toilet pan or transferring files goes unnoticed. It cannot happen so easily. There must be work orders and tenders describing the work. And what about the post audit?"
The TAC has examined report of an investigation conducted by the telecommunications ministry into BTCL budget forgery and found that over Tk 140 million was misappropriated by the engineering department in 2005-06 and over Tk 116 million by the revenue department in between 2001 and 2007. The commission also found the investigation by the telecom ministry was "incomplete, insufficient, wrongly done and biased" as the committee included members, who themselves were punished for committing corruption by BTCL. Besides, the investigation did not result in taking action against the accused as the probe body included BTCL staffs. On fake budget, in a fiscal year Tk 14,400 was made Tk 20.14 lakh by putting 20 on the left of the actual figure. The same group made another budget of Tk 1.13 lakh to Tk 21.13 lakh by adding 2.
The ACC taskforce, while probing corruption in the erstwhile BTTB, now BTCL in its Chittagong offices as part of a drive against institutional corruption, found that BTTB staffs ranging from the post divisional engineer to lineman misappropriated the money in connivance with each other. The investigators also found BTTB staffs shared the money, drawn in advance for schedule maintenance and preservation by assistant engineers, illegally among themselves by a means invented by themselves at a fixed rate.
The ACC investigation also found information that several BTCL officers and employees of Chittagong offices have amassed huge wealth beyond their known sources of income. Of the total money misappropriated, Tk 303 million was shown as additional expenditure for maintenance and preservation, while Tk 419 million through schedule work of maintenance and preservation. The investigation found that though expenditure in schedule work of maintenance and preservation, work like maintenance and preservation of exchange, switch room and rectifier room, was shown about Tk 599 million, the actual amount spent was Tk 176 million. Investigations reveal 25 percent to 40 percent of the drawn amount was spent on maintenance and entertainment purposes of the offices of the divisional engineers and top-level officers, while 10-15 percent was taken by the assistant engineers, who drew the money.
After corporatisation of the BTTB, is an effective change in sight? After the change-over, it is the same age-old bureaucracy, petty corruption, nepotism and favouritism, that are plaguing the newly formed company. It is yet to come out of the age-old inertia. Like Biman, the BTCL has excess manpower. But the management has decided against rationalisation of such manpower. As such, after being converted into company, the expenditure has not come down.
To make the BTCL a competitive telecom service-provider, it will have to provide customers with truly integrated services that include fixed line, internet connection and non-payment channels. Moreover, the BTCL can best serve the customers by devising strategies to meet the needs of specific customer segments. Offering different service packages at different price-caps may tailor the customer needs. Segmentation of the market on the basis of customers' need and income will enhance the demand for telecom services.
The government would also need to consider offloading a sizeable part of newly formed companies' shares on the Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges in different phases. This will help raise new capital for BTCL, which they desperately need to modernise the sector and buy new technology and equipment to become a quality service provider.
But what difference would it make if the same corrupt officials and employees continue to serve in these newly corporatised entities and the government leaders and high officials, directly or indirectly, enjoy the authority to interfere in day-to-day management affairs? Mere change in names or organisational restructuring is unlikely to help achieve the desired objectives. So, corporatisation is not a panacea for the problems facing the public sector organisations. Something more needs to be done to ensure transparency, accountability and good management in these entities. szkhan@thefinancialexpress-bd.com
THE Centre for Policy Research and Social Responsibility recently undertook surveys using purposive sampling to assess the opinions of the urban educated group about Bangladesh Telephone Company Limited (BTCL) services. The BTCL is the upgraded version of the BTTB after it was made a corporate entity.
The preliminary results showed that the subscribers of BTCL experienced a variety of problems. The majority of the BTCL respondents (36.1 per cent) complained about poor connection, followed by inoperative phones (34.1 per cent). Many of the respondents also faced problems of irregular billing (12.2 per cent) and exaggerated bills (17.6 per cent).
Faced with the above-mentioned problems with services, 90 per cent of the respondents lodged complaints: 61.4 per cent had complained against core service failure (phone is out of order, poor connection), 31.5 per cent respondents complained against support service failure (irregular billing system etc.) and 7.1 per cent respondents complained against misbehaviour of service staff.
Unfortunately, 83.6 per cent lamented that the BTCL service staff demanded graft from them. Of these respondents, 49.5 per cent mentioned that the demand was direct and 50.5 per cent said the demand was indirect/implied. Surprisingly, 77.0 per cent of them gave in to the demands. It was found that on average the respondents paid Tk.580 as gratuity. The refusal to pay gratuity led to non-cooperation of the service staff for 64.4 per cent of the respondents.
It may also be noted that 67.6 per cent of the respondents expressed their dismay at the payment procedures, which they found wanting, very tiring and time consuming, and 77.8 per cent of the respondents also believed that record keeping of billing information at BTCL was not satisfactory. Only 10.8 per cent of the respondents indicated that the service provider performed the service properly the first time and 10 per cent received the service at the time when BTCL promised to do so. Also, only 10.9 per cent respondents of BTCL found the concerned officers in their chairs. In limited cases (only 12.4 per cent of the respondents), the employees assured the respondents that the problem would be resolved correctly and only 17.5 per cent of the respondents felt secure in their transactions with BTCL.
Some of the glaring corruption cases of the BTCL suggest that in a case of major corruption, BTCL showed deployment of 256 labourers on papers only to transfer files in an almirah. All the labourers were 'deployed' to the head office in the capital to do the task, which a class-four employee could do in a couple of hours.
A section of the corrupt BTCL officials showed the fake deployment to misappropriate huge amount of money, according to confessions by four such officials before the Truth and Accountability Commission (TAC). The TAC denied giving details of the matter, which is one of many graft incidents revealed by the four. The commission has however issued notices to 17 top-level government officials including some BTCL staffs, who are likely to face TAC soon in this connection.
Earlier, the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) published a similar graft incident by BTCL officials in Khulna where they had 'deployed' 122 labourers to install a pan in a toilet. The ACC investigations reveal misappropriation of over Tk 330 million by showing fake deployments at BTCL Khulna offices. The four BTCL officials facing TAC also confessed to budget forgery and drawing huge amount through fake vouchers regularly. Police seized 35 sacks of fake vouchers from BTCL Dhaka offices through which a huge amount of money was drawn by the corrupt staffs. On deployment of 122 people for installing a single pan, TAC chief Justice Habibur Rahman Khan ironically said, "It made me think that BTCL was constructing another Taj Mahal in Khulna."
"This is outrageous. It must have been done in connivance with each other. It has to be confirmed whether the auditors were also involved or not. And it must be worked out why the government mechanism failed to check such graft," commented Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Chairman Prof Mozaffer Ahmad. He asked: "How come deploying such a huge number of people for tasks like installing a toilet pan or transferring files goes unnoticed. It cannot happen so easily. There must be work orders and tenders describing the work. And what about the post audit?"
The TAC has examined report of an investigation conducted by the telecommunications ministry into BTCL budget forgery and found that over Tk 140 million was misappropriated by the engineering department in 2005-06 and over Tk 116 million by the revenue department in between 2001 and 2007. The commission also found the investigation by the telecom ministry was "incomplete, insufficient, wrongly done and biased" as the committee included members, who themselves were punished for committing corruption by BTCL. Besides, the investigation did not result in taking action against the accused as the probe body included BTCL staffs. On fake budget, in a fiscal year Tk 14,400 was made Tk 20.14 lakh by putting 20 on the left of the actual figure. The same group made another budget of Tk 1.13 lakh to Tk 21.13 lakh by adding 2.
The ACC taskforce, while probing corruption in the erstwhile BTTB, now BTCL in its Chittagong offices as part of a drive against institutional corruption, found that BTTB staffs ranging from the post divisional engineer to lineman misappropriated the money in connivance with each other. The investigators also found BTTB staffs shared the money, drawn in advance for schedule maintenance and preservation by assistant engineers, illegally among themselves by a means invented by themselves at a fixed rate.
The ACC investigation also found information that several BTCL officers and employees of Chittagong offices have amassed huge wealth beyond their known sources of income. Of the total money misappropriated, Tk 303 million was shown as additional expenditure for maintenance and preservation, while Tk 419 million through schedule work of maintenance and preservation. The investigation found that though expenditure in schedule work of maintenance and preservation, work like maintenance and preservation of exchange, switch room and rectifier room, was shown about Tk 599 million, the actual amount spent was Tk 176 million. Investigations reveal 25 percent to 40 percent of the drawn amount was spent on maintenance and entertainment purposes of the offices of the divisional engineers and top-level officers, while 10-15 percent was taken by the assistant engineers, who drew the money.
After corporatisation of the BTTB, is an effective change in sight? After the change-over, it is the same age-old bureaucracy, petty corruption, nepotism and favouritism, that are plaguing the newly formed company. It is yet to come out of the age-old inertia. Like Biman, the BTCL has excess manpower. But the management has decided against rationalisation of such manpower. As such, after being converted into company, the expenditure has not come down.
To make the BTCL a competitive telecom service-provider, it will have to provide customers with truly integrated services that include fixed line, internet connection and non-payment channels. Moreover, the BTCL can best serve the customers by devising strategies to meet the needs of specific customer segments. Offering different service packages at different price-caps may tailor the customer needs. Segmentation of the market on the basis of customers' need and income will enhance the demand for telecom services.
The government would also need to consider offloading a sizeable part of newly formed companies' shares on the Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges in different phases. This will help raise new capital for BTCL, which they desperately need to modernise the sector and buy new technology and equipment to become a quality service provider.
But what difference would it make if the same corrupt officials and employees continue to serve in these newly corporatised entities and the government leaders and high officials, directly or indirectly, enjoy the authority to interfere in day-to-day management affairs? Mere change in names or organisational restructuring is unlikely to help achieve the desired objectives. So, corporatisation is not a panacea for the problems facing the public sector organisations. Something more needs to be done to ensure transparency, accountability and good management in these entities. szkhan@thefinancialexpress-bd.com