Anti-Corruption Commission Chairman Iqbal Mahmood says the two-point improvement for Bangladesh in the Transparency International Corruption Index was ‘the result of much hard work’. But, the ACC chief said, this was no cause for ‘complacency’.
“Some countries only saw a change of one point on the recently published international corruption index,” he said at the ACC headquarters in Dhaka’s Segunbagicha on Sunday. “I believe only about 10-12 countries have changed by two points. It is not so easy to raise the score by two points.” The Berlin-based Transparency International published its 2017 Corruption Perceptions Index on 180 countries and regions around the world on Feb 22. Bangladesh came in 143rd position on the list (which was arranged from least to most corrupt). Bangladesh was listed 145th on the 2016 version of the list, which ranked 176 countries. Bangladesh raised its score by 2 points to 28 in the 2017 report. A score of 100 on the index would indicate the country or region is corruption free, while a score of zero would indicate corruption was rampant. In an official statement on the study, ACC Chairman Iqbal Mahmood said: “We are all responsible for corruption. If you cannot prevent it, you
are part of it. Corruption happens and we cannot stop it. The ACC is unable to do it, even with the participation of the people. So we are all responsible.” “The corrupt are always corrupt. It is irrelevant whether it is big or small, we must work against all corruption. If we make a distinction between the two, we will never reduce corruption.”
The number of convictions in corruption cases has risen from 37 percent to 74 percent, he said. “One thing is true – we have not been able to establish a new paradigm as quickly as could be expected. But you must understand, this is not an easy task. We must have the cooperation of the public.”
Asked about money laundering, he responded that the issue was a global one and that the practise was to be found in all countries. He added that Bangladesh’s laws include restrictions on the ACC’s power that prevent the organisation from taking direct measures in such cases. “We need the support of the media, teachers, students and the general public to fight corruption. If we cannot raise awareness among the people, we will not be able to prevent corruption as quickly as necessary. This is a problem.”
