Editorial
Tackling graft not prioritised
Scams to blame for poor rating
BANGLADESH has not fared particularly well in the latest edition of 'Corruption Perception Index' published by Transparency International. With a score of 27, it now stands as the second worst performer in South Asia trailing all other countries in the region including Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The rating, as assessed by country experts, business people, analysts, investors and investment analysts points to perception of corruption in the public sector and the likelihood of encountering corruption in terms of unauthorised payments in the delivery of government functions, justice, executive, law enforcement and tax collection.
CPI 2013 on the Bangladesh chapter is based on seven international sources including the Economist Intelligence Unit Country Risk Assessment and World Bank Country Performance and Institutional Assessment. Although Bangladesh has gone up three points from 13th to 16th, what has probably kept Bangladesh back is its inability to tackle allegations of graft in high- profile cases like Padma Bridge project, railway scandal, stock market, the Hall-Mark and Destiny group scandals. The Rana Plaza collapse instance merely reinforced the presence of graft at various levels, large-scale amnesty of criminals on political grounds, the wholesale loan-default culture gripping the banking sector have all colluded not to make the rating any better. Lastly, the clipping of Anti-Corruption Commission has sent entirely the wrong signal as far as the stand of the government on corruption is concerned. For Bangladesh to crawl its way out of the bottom of next year's rating, the government in power must find the political will to combat graft in earnest.
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