Presentation_Combating Corruption: Initiatives of Government and Civil Societies in Bangladesh.pptx

Combating Corruption:
Initiatives of Government
and Civil Societies in
Bangladesh

1. National Research University Higher School of Economics Combating Corruption: Initiatives of Government and Civil Societies in Bangladesh Presentation by Md Reza Habib Master Programme in Population and Development . Moscow , 23 November, 2018

2. Bangladesh is positioned among the most corrupt countries in the world, between 1996 and 2004. Transparency International's 2017 Corruption Perception Index ranks the country 143rd place out of 180 countries. Control of Corruption 2015 (World Bank)- 18.27 Irregular Payments and Bribes 2016-17 (World Economic Forum)- 3.8 Fragile States Index 2017 (Public Service) (Fund for Peace) - 8.1 (Sources: Relevant Websites) ( Corruption in Service Sectors: National Household Survey 2017, TIB) Corruption Scenario in Bangladesh Year Mean CPI Score Rank 2001 0.4 91 2002 1.2 102 2003 1.3 133 2004 1.5 145 2005 1.7 158 2006 2.0 156 2007 2.0 162 2008 2.1 147 2009 2.4 139 2010 2.4 134 2011 2.7 120 2012 2.6 144 2013 2.7 136 2014 2.5 145 2015 25 (scale) 145 2016 25(Scale) 138 Source: Transparency International Index

3. 66.5% households experienced corruption 89 % household paid bribe- No Bribe , No service Per household paid bribe (average- 5,930BDT = $70 ) Estimated amount of total bribe is equivalent to 3.4% of national budget (2016-2017) ( Source: National Household survey 2017, TIB) Corruption Scenario in Bangladesh

4. United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) - Article 8: Code of conduct for public officials - Article 9: Public procurement and management of public finances - Article 10: Public reporting - Article 13: Participation of society - Article 14: Measures to prevent money-laundering Sustainable Development Goals Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions - 16.5 Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms - 16.6 Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels. - 16.7 Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision- making at all levels. Corruption Prevention: International & SDGs Provision

5. Article 7(1) of the Constitution of Bangladesh stipulates that all powers in the Republic belong to the people. Section 17 of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act, 2004 has given the ACC the authority to perform any function as may be considered necessary for prevention of corruption. Right to Information Act, 2009 aims at ensuring the free flow of information to citizens for empowering them. National Integrity Strategy 2012 in its action plan gives the responsibility to the ACC to prevent corruption. The Seventh Five Year Plan 2016-2021 underscores the need for empowering citizens in order to achieve the objectives of the plan. The Five Year Strategic Plan of the ACC 2017-2021 highlights the importance of public hearings in ensuring corruption-free public service delivery. Corruption Prevention: National Provision

6. Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Act, 2004: S even dimensions- Initiatives: Government Actors

7. Initiatives: Government Actors (ACC) Year No. of Allegation Received Received for enquiries Referred to different ministries for necessary actions 2014 12,500 1689 237 2015 10,415 1240 165 2016 12,990 1007 588 2017 17,953 937 377 Occupation/Identities of Arrestees (2017) Number Bank Officials/Staff 25 Govt. Official/Staff 84 Public Representatives 13 Non-banking/other Financial Institutes 10 Businessmen and others 50 Total 182 Set up 824 “ Honesty Stores” among Secondary school level Students in each district; Formulated Five-Year Strategy Plan (2017-21) supported by GIZ; Organize discussion, consultative meeting, human chain, workshop “Corruption Free Government Service: Nature of Corruption Complaints; Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) introduced toll free hotline-106 in 2017 ( 75,000 people called hotline in first week and more than 200 relevant complaints were forwarded to the ACC to investigate) Source: Annual Report, ACC, 2017

8. Formed 3,221 “ Corruption Prevention Committee (CPC) ” at Unions, Sub-districts, districts, and Metropolitan city; Forming “Integrity Units” at Schools, Colleges, residential Halls of Universities and training Institutes-25,129; Conducted 25 public hearings and 5 follow-up ; Implementing project entitled “Justice Reform and Corruption Prevention” in collaboration with Ministry of law, Justice and parliamentary affairs and supported by GIZ; Documentary films Dubbed as “Punishment” ( shasti ), “Get Good, Let good” and so on Distributed 4,81, 900 Posters and leaflets among people; E-government Services against Corruption; Bangladesh Police hotline-999 in 2017; Initiatives: ACC & Other Government Actors

9. Khaleda Zia found guilty of misuse of power as PM in collecting $375,000 for a charitable trust from unknown sources. Hasina embezzled some 30 million taka ($435,000) while she was in power between 1996 and 2001, were initiated by the anti-corruption commission of the army-backed interim government . And she was arrested in 2007. Initiatives: Cases Bangladesh Awami League (BAL) Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)

10. The “ Social Movement against Corruption,” launched in 2009 in 34 districts . Formed 45 citizens’ volunteer groups ( Committees of Concerned Citizens-CCCs ) in 45 districts and 60 Youth Engagement and Support groups (YES ). Anti-corruption youth camp 2018 : Transparency and accountability towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals. Initiatives: TIB (Non-government Actors) [1]

11. Place of Case: Title: Description: Date: Type of Corruption: Sector: Name of applicant: Phone No: Email Address: Initiatives: TIB (Non-government Actors) [2] Reporting to TIB about Corruption

12. Promoting Governance, Accountability, Transparency, and Integrity (PROGATI ) by USAID from 2007-2012. Citizens’ Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh- Youth Conference 2018: the role of Youth to combat corruption and achieving good governance and SDGs. Initiatives: Other Non-government Actors

13. The ruling Awami League government- Necessary for the commission to obtain permissions from the government to investigate or file any charge against government bureaucrats or politicians; ACC has been frequently used to target the opposition party leaders and their followers; The civil society has also failed in its role to take up a united stand against politically corrupt leadership and motivate public opinion to take effective measures against them. Challenges

14. The ACC must be independent, accountable, efficient and effective. Follow a top-down operational strategy rather than bottom-up: the ACC should address grand corruption before moving on to petty corruption . Provide support for the establishment of an Inter- Ministerial Task Force Against Corruption Establish a national anti-corruption coalition among a wide range of civil society, business and media organizations Prepare a civil society action plan against corruption should be designed and implemented by members of the coalition Way Forward

15. Media requires support along various dimensions to develop as an effective public watchdog Schools : through curriculum and student organizations . Website : by publishing wealth statements of public officials online. Business groups: involving the Chambers of Commerce. Database : by facilitating information sharing among ACC, NBR, police, financial and other institutions involved in investigating corruption crimes. Religious establishments: by raising awareness and public opinion against corruption . Way Forward

16. Conclusion Government agency and civil societies should take more comprehensive and collaborative initiatives to combat corruption in Bangladesh. Bureaucrats and politicians should be committed to prevention the corruption at all levels; Media and civil societies should play role as watchdog in the society to all forms of combat corruption.

17. References: Anti-Corruption Commission (2017). Annual Report 2017 Fund for Peace (2017). Fragile States Index 2017 available at https://fsi.fundforpeace.org Corruption in Service Sectors: National Household Surveys (various years) available at https://www.ti-bangladesh.org. Transparency International (2017). Corruption Perceptions Index 2016 available at https://www.transparency.org/cpi2015/results United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2004). United Nations Convention Against Corruption. World Bank (2017). World Development Report 2017 World Economic Forum (2017). The Global Competitiveness Report 2016-2017 available at https://reports.weforum.org

18. Thank You for Your Attention