SOME people compare it with cancer, some with a less fatal but fast spreading virus. The government says it is under control while independent global monitors say they see marginal improvement at best. The issue is corruption in Bangladesh, an impoverished south Asian nation of some 150 million people, where nearly 40 percent earn less than a dollar a day. Analysts and economists have mixed views, but economists say many investors are holding back before staking their money in a country where the problem appears to be endemic. A serious anti-corruption effort is critical to attract the sustained foreign investment and aid the country needs for development, especially in its energy and infrastructure sectors, analysts say. “Investment is not picking up because of random corruption,” said Abu Ahmed, a professor of economics at the Dhaka University. “I would not be surprised if we see a negative growth of investment,” he told Reuters. “For the corruption cost of business is rising every year.” A TIB (Transparency International, Bangladesh) report said Bangladesh loses nearly 3 percent of annual GDP to corruption. Eight months into office, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is under fire from opponents who allege her administration's anti-corruption drive mainly targets political rivals. That might be seen as expected political rhetoric, but ordinary Bangladeshis say corruption has been widespread and is still spreading through government, politics and business, with perpetrators having little fear of being caught and punished. Global watchdog Transparency International rated Bangladesh the world's most corrupt nation for five consecutive years from 2001. Subsequently the rating improved, to 10th in 2008, after a military-backed interim government took tough anti-graft steps. Falling back? However, TIB says its latest research confirms widespread corruption remains, and some others say it is getting worse again. The authorities deny that, saying the monitors base their judgment mainly on often inflated media reports. But people struggling day in and day out to make a living blame corruption for many of their problems. “You will face it everywhere,” said Shahadat Hossain, a teacher at a government primary school. “I had to pay 100,000 taka ($1,430) as bribe to get this job. But the poor salary I get covers only a part of my expenses,” he told Reuters. “Grocery sellers ask higher prices every next day, doctors at government clinics won't treat my child without money or give me medicine supposed to be a free handout.” The government admits efforts to contain prices and introduce graft-free practices have largely failed, even though populist Hasina, who took office in January following a widely acclaimed democratic election, promised to address them. “Corruption has spread like cancer in our country and society,” said Mahabub Hossain, executive director of Bangladesh's biggest NGO and leading micro-credit agency, BRAC. “It is also hampering our aid and development activities,” he told Reuters, adding: “We are like in an ocean of corruption.” In this holy Muslim month of Ramadan, the country's top business body, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, has fielded teams visiting markets in the capital Dhaka to monitor prices. It promised to “do whatever is required” to prevent price hikes that violate government guidelines businesses are supposed to follow. Little success So far there is little evidence of success. The government recently lowered import duty on several commodities to ensure supply and keep prices down. But each and every affected item including sugar and cooking oil has still been selling at prices well above the supposedly fixed levels. The ministers of food and commerce said they were helpless, and blamed the situation on corruption. Political leaders are unable to stop party activists, including those from Hasina's Awami League, from indulging in various abuses, analysts say, despite support and pressure for action from NGOs and foreign countries. “Anti-corruption efforts are a key component of any government's responsibility. We fully support Bangladesh's efforts to combat corruption (that) has too long robbed Bangladeshis of the fruits of their labor,” US Ambassador James Moriarty said recently. Economics professor Ahmed said: “Like the previous governments, the current rulers have also weakened the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to use it to their own advantages.” Most agree corruption dropped substantially under the interim government in 2007-08, when graft busters detained around 200 key politicians, former ministers, businessmen and others. They included Hasina and her main political rival Begum Khaleda Zia, who heads the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. However, the two women and many others held for alleged corruption were freed before and after the December 2008 polls. And while her opponents allege Hasina's own anti-corruption drive mainly targets her political foes, they support her government's efforts to put the corruption fighters of the interim government on trial for alleged excesses and misdeeds. Some ministers and senior Awami leaders have defied Hasina's plea for “not joining BNP leaders in outright criticism of the past regime and the army”. Independent critics of corruption say the moves to go after the previous administration's corruption fighters signal Bangladesh's politicians are not serious about tackling graft, which has benefited many of them. Economist Abul Barakat said: “Corruption has survived in all its known forms, with spreading extortion being in the forefront. “Unfortunately, we see no firm commitment or action by the government or law enforcing agencies to combat it.”
