Corruption eating into the vitals

Businessmen who understand the nuances of corruption better than most people are forced into a conspiracy of silence that makes it impossible for them to admit publicly how much they pay to build a bridge, set up a factory, construct a hotel and to get a loan from a bank. In the job market the situation is horrendous. Allegations abound that for a teaching job in a primary school one has to pay one lakh taka as graft to the management board or, for that matter for a sub-inspector or sergeant level job in the police department the graft money as revealed by the incumbents shoots upto 3/ 4 times.

A hint of how rotten the system is comes when a person who on condition of absolute anonymity agrees to speak in more specific terms. I met such a person recently who worked abroad for some time and wanted to settle in the home country on a plot of land he got from RAJUK on a foreign remittance quota. He prefaced his story by saying, "would you believe that it's worse than ever? Everyone is on the take at every level of government". He recently finished construction of his house and no sooner was it completed than an official of the tax department approached him with proposition. He was ready to negotiate the amount of taxes the home owner was obliged to pay but for a price. The tax of the house should be at least 60 thousand taka but if he keeps apart 30 thousand taka for him he can ensure that it comes down to 30 thousand taka annually.

Corruption has invaded the very fabric of our society with education sector becoming the latest victim. Precisely known to all, knowledge today is an international commodity. As the world becomes frenetically competitive, nations realise the value of good quality higher education. Bangladesh can only stand on a par with the rest of the world if its education system is strong. Till now what unites the best colleges , especially Dhaka city colleges is their drive to excel and their desire to give their students an education that goes beyond textbooks, classroom and other considerations of politics and party. But such high-profile colleges in the Dhaka city are shedding their images as prime supplier for national talents in different services in the country.

The report published in a section of the press on May 6 last sends a chill down the nation's spine. Even such colleges are now admitting students not on merit but on payment of big amount collected by a syndicate comprising student leaders mostly belonging to ruling coalition party. In league with college authorities, the going rates vary from taka ten thousand to taka twenty-five thousand on the basis of the market importance of the courses. What is more ominous is that the perpetrators of such evil actions seemed to have a large measure of administrative sanction. Reports of otherwise respectable and learned teaching community participating in such dirty game is a chilling symbol of the breakdown of moral fabric, social values and national aspirations. Obviously corruption has been institutionalised. Not reining in such scams is a political blunder and in the aftermath of such reports being published, the question of whether the government connived in such alleged scams has acquired importance. ,

If we move to industrial sector and look at the daily transactions of business, the stories of corruption, graft and bribery may come up further chilling and more alarming. Reports have it that PDB has failed to reduce theft of electricity even after installing GSM metering system in the industrial belts of Chittagong. By tampering the electric meter through breaking seals and inserting bypass meter these industries are depriving the government of the actual bill they are obliged to pay and all these dirty businesses are being carried out in collusion with corrupt engineers in PDB.

GSM system is a highly modern and scientifically advanced metering system equipped with sim card associated with a mobile phone. The modem and fax installed in the meter can send computerised signal to the office of the chief engineer and other monitoring system in case of any tampering. Report published in a Bangla newspaper on May 1 last revealed that the chief engineer of PDB Chittagong zone recently detected such tampering in Nazia Steel Re-rolling mill at dead of night and caught red handed a corrupt engineer helping the mill owner in such malpractice. Ostensibly, the state coffer deprived of the fund that may have gone in reconstructing the power sector as well as improving the hideous , unclean unplanned cities, towns and villages that deface the Bangladesh landscape.

Corruption runs rampant in the country. Its ways and means boggle the mind. Another interesting aspect of such stories relate to how long and complicated it still is to build anything in the country. I met a businessman recently who told me that it took more than three years to build a factory and at almost every stage there was someone's pocket to be lined. When it comes to corruption there really is a trickle down effect. Newspaper reports published on April 18 last indicated that a list of 235 "crorepati" high level customs officials has been prepared at the behest of the NBR with one official of the rank of member in NBR thrown out of service for amassing wealth disproportionate to his income.

True, the rot spreads from the lowest clerk to the highest echelon of the society and government. There is no point in overlooking this terrible reality and taking refuge in the old truism: corruption is a way of life in an underdeveloped country like Bangladesh or bureaucratic corruption is not as massive as political corruption. There is a great difference here. In a democracy, the people have the power to punish a corrupt politician even if the state fails to carry out its legal duty. There are no institutionalised checks and balances to contain bureaucratic corruption. The argument that it is the underpaid public servant who falls to criminal temptation is not valid. The most shameful cases are from the top echelon which is certainly a privileged lot.

The top tier of bureaucracy constructed by the colonial rulers and often referred to as the "steel frame" has now turned into "rubber frame". They are always bending before their political bosses. And politicians often use the threat of transfers and punitive posting to bend the officers, and often make them comply with unethical and illegal orders. There is no point then in throwing up our hands in horror everytime a PSI(pre-shipment inspection) type scam is detected. A report published in The Daily Star on March 29 last alleged that the NBR (National Board of Revenue) in its report filed to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on estimate revealed that the managing director a PSI firm, BSI Inspectorate Ltd. has dodged 64 crore taka in taxes to the government in three years beginning 2001-02, and the MD himself evaded 10 crore taka in income taxes since 1999.

The report further says that against 174 crore taka that was collected as fees from customs houses, the return sheet submitted to the NBR showed the same as only Tk. 2.38 crore in three years. Strangely enough, all these fees collected were deposited in the MD's personal account. When questioned about the legality of keeping company fund in personal account, the MD hastened to say that all these were done with the honest intention of setting up schools and colleges with the interest derived from this fund.

Allowing the law to take its own course of action, people are constrained to conclude that rare is the case when a person guilty of such misconduct has been in a court of law and proper punishment meted out. People also view that the near fruitless endeavour to curb terrorism and looting of state properties in the country has mostly resulted from the interference of godfathers in the administration who receive their strength from political bosses. .

Let us examine what is generally said in defence of the corrupt practices that continue to proliferate in whole country. "No action can be taken, we are told, because the ground reality is that officials take bribes to allow illegal activities... They also take it to provide legitimate services as anyone who has tried getting an electricity meter or telephone connection in Dhaka will tell you". This happens not just to ordinary citizens in the country but even to privileged, important people who can pick up a telephone and ring the highest official in the land.

We need to begin by taking some punitive action against such officials. We need also to reduce the powers that our officials enjoy by making our laws simpler and more citizen-friendly. Corruption has corroded not just our whole system of governance but the very soul of Bangladesh.The problem has assumed enormous proportions. But if the government with sufficient political will does not attempt dramatic change soon, then not only will we continue to be counted among the most corrupt countries in the world but the administration will increasingly be seen by the common people as their enemy.

Md Asadullah Khan is a former teacher of physics and Controller of Examinations, BUET.