Reports of plunder of the country’s wealth appear in the media both at home and abroad frequently. Bangladesh also topped the list of corrupt countries several years earning a bad name for the nation. There is hardly any sector which is free from corruption. There was a time when postal and education sectors were considered free from corruption but even those sectors are now in the grip of corruption, media reports said.
Study conducted by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) in different fields reveal how corruption has become all pervasive. Besides, UNDP also showed in one of its recent studies how flight of capital has been taking place over the years.
Higher education in the country’s private universities has become risky because of corruption and irregularities at every stage of the educational system, revealed a recent study conducted by TIB.
Around Tk 10 million to Tk 30 million was being charged for the approval of a university, Tk 50,000 to Tk 0.3 million was being charged to provide fake certificates while Tk 50,000 to Tk 0.1 million was being charged for audit report, the study report stated. It said a university has to pay between Tk 50,000 and Tk 0.1 million to inspectors after establishment of the university, Tk 10,000 to Tk 50,000 is paid for dismissal of any objection from the inspectors.
Meanwhile, the government spent Tk 560 crore from development fund everyday in the month of June which took the total ADP implementation to 95 percent in FY2013-14, said a report on Wednesday. In May, the average daily spending of the ADP was Tk 238 crore which took the implementation rate to 67 percent in the month, the report quoting the data of the IMED of the Planning Ministry said.
In the last month of 2013-14 fiscal year, government agencies and departments spent Tk 13,768 crore, almost a fourth of the revised ADP of Tk 52,366 crore. The average daily ADP spending in June 2013-14 was thus Tk 536 crore. ‘Such huge spending in a single month raises question whether the money was well spent,’ former caretaker government finance adviser Mirza Azizul Islam told the media in his reaction.
Meanwhile, ‘Global Corruption Barometer 2012’, of TIB put political parties on top of the corruption list followed by the police and judiciary. It said 60 percent of people interviewed in Bangladesh thought that corruption increased over 2011-12.
The Sonali Bank -Hall Mark scam which created a big noise is nothing big compared to corruption in other public sector entities, revealed recently released Corruption Perception Index (CPI) report of TIB.
Corruption rackets, has looted over 40,000 crore Taka in routine dealings over the last few years, it said adding the sectors are banking, telecommunications, energy and education. Topping the list is the telecom sector, with an estimated 151,000 crore Taka irregularities since June, 2009, followed by the energy sector, where kick back in artificial system loss and over billing by quick rental plants and energy deals tallies up to Taka 140,000 crores. Monthly Pay Order (MPO) related corruption in the education sector accounts for 111,000 crores taka, CPI report said. Millions of small investors were turned into paupers following share market plunder by a group of people enjoying blessings of the ruling party.
Illegal transactions totalling nearly Tk 5 million take place daily at Chittagong port and Customs House, TIB has said while giving its finding on functioning of the port and customs. Valid documents commanded no value in a process controlled by middlemen, TIB Executive Director Dr. Iftekharuzzaman said. Illegal transactions were made possible by a nexus of some Customs officials, Port officials and businessmen, he said.
Meanwhile, deposits by Bangladeshi citizens at various Swiss banks rose by 62 percent year-on-year in 2013, mainly due to political unrest and lack of safety throughout the year when many predicted a government change over, Swiss National Bank (SNB) report said. The deposits that stood at Tk 3,236 crore at the year end were Tk 1,991 crore in 2012, according to the latest data of SNB. Switzerland is not the only country that has received the Bangladeshi funds, as informed circle has added the names of Canada, Malaysia and the UAE to the list.
Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, a former governor of Bangladesh Bank, blamed the chaotic politics and a lack of security in 2013 for the rise in the flows of money to Swiss banks.
He said Bangladeshi money is also being invested in other countries such as Malaysia and Canada in the real estate sector. Zahid Hussain, lead economist of the World Bank in Dhaka, said many including businessmen did not consider Bangladesh a safe place to keep their money due to the deadly violence and a strong possibility of a government changeover in 2013. “The money has flown outside through both official and unofficial channels,” he said. He said the official channel comprises under- and over- invoicing.
Bangladesh counts millions of dollars in capital flight every year owing to leakage in the balance of payments and trade misinvoicing by businesses, revealed a recent UNDP study. Over the last four decades, the country lost $800 million a year on average in capital flight driven by balance of payment leakages, trade misinvoicing and unreported remittances, the report said adding the total capital flight from Bangladesh accounts for 30.4 percent of its GDP of over $100 billion in 2010. Leakages in the balance of payments account for 83.1 percent of the capital that went out of Bangladesh over the four decades, UNDP data said.
Such leakage occurs when there is a mismatch between inflow and outflow of foreign currency. The authorities then put the lost money under the heading of “Error and Omission” in the country’s balance of payments account.
The amount of such losses was $977 million in fiscal 2011-12, $764 million in 2012-13 and $676 million in the first six months of 2013-14, according to the government’s Economic Review 2014, media report said. Trade misinvoicing, which includes mispricing in imports and exports, accounts for the rest 16.9 percent of the capital flight, says the UNDP.
The question is where is the government for protecting public interest when plundering of public money is so easily done with impunity? We need a government of people not helpful to plunderers.
