AN English daily reported on Friday that the Transparency International Bangladesh in its fact-finding report released on Thursday alleged that widespread irregularities, including exchange of bribes ranging from Tk 10,000 to 500,000, depending on nature of service, took place regularly at the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (OCAG) centering around recruitment, promotion, posting and accepting audit reports.
The TIB findings revealed that this constitutional body follows “Small projects, small bribes; big projects, big bribes” policy, in its modus operandi. Interestingly, the OCAG is responsible for detecting anomalies in the spending of taxpayers’ money, but it sunk into irregularities itself. The findings nudge us for a complete reformation and revolutionary change in the state mechanism while the whole system is packed by and mired with systematic corruption.
Several media outlets carried the TIB report which stated that the OCAG has become tainted with irregularities for external and internal factors, although, its job is to prevent financial anomalies in government offices, statutory bodies and foreign-funded projects. The TIB research was done between March 2013 and December 2014. The research found that the auditors in exchange for bribes dropout objections involving big amounts and include less important issues instead in the audit reports. This makes it easier for the auditee organisations to come up with “acceptable” explanations. Sometimes, the audit teams prepare answers for these organizations audited.
TIB said that during audit inspections, audit teams accept gifts and costs of food and accommodation, which welcome corruption, but the auditors never face any action for irregularities and dishonesty. The report revealed that candidates have to pay between Tk 3 lakh and 5 lakh for jobs as auditors, junior auditors and drivers at the OCAG. Many had paid bribes of Tk 4 lakh to 5 lakh last year when 413 auditors and junior auditors were hired at a wing of the OCAG. And while OCAG’s Railway Finance Wing recruited about 500 people as auditors and junior auditors in 2012, nearly half of them paid kickbacks between Tk 3 lakh and 4 lakh each.
The government budget and the number of offices and employees go up every year, thus increasing the responsibility of the auditors. But the workforce of the OCAG has not increased as required. Presently, a third of its approved posts are vacant. The OCAG is responsible for auditing more than 30,000 offices and projects but it can barely audit 10 percent of those. Despite being an independent body, the OCAG has to share its audit findings with the Prime Minister’s Office although the PMO itself is audited by the auditors. As a result, the constitutional right of the OCAG is violated because the power still remains with the executive authority, TIB Chairman opined. The TIB study documented the types and modes of corruption prevailing in the OCAG in a realistic way. Besides, OCAG has become a hot-bed of political influence and centre of favour trading.
The role of the OCAG is to check illegal transactions and anomalies in the government bodies, but its indulgence in corruption stuns the taxpayers as their trust on the OCAG is severely violated. The constitutional body is grasped by the corrupts. It needs a complete reformation. The OCAG should realise that its honour and status, as an independent state-body, depends much on its honesty and as long as it enjoys public trust. It brings to mind the old Latin phrase–who will watch the watchmen.
