Corruption database

The Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB)'s corruption database prepared on the basis of reports gleaned from both national and regional newspapers which were cross-checked through TIB's own channels is about the most authentic handbook on the national image sapper one could possibly think of. This observation is reinforced by the fact that the database is an utterance of reported corruption cases and, if one were to lend credence to the privately shared tales of victims that never got reported, the burden of overall incidence would make us feel crushed like a centipede.

But we are on tangibles here, stories of corruption, abuse of power, undelivered services, financial losses, etc. that are verifiable offences capable of providing a firm grip to the government of what needs to be done, what is doable, actionable and, perhaps remediable, if not the whole lot, at least some to impact in an exemplary fashion on the corruption scenario.

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The TIB database reveals ministries and directorates dealing with communications, education, law enforcement, forest and environment, relief and disaster management, private sector in the top corrupt groupings.

The reason why the wheeling and dealing never stops lies in the finding that 85 percent of people involved in corruption went unpunished while 2.10 percent of the incidents were probed at all. Another sample: 76 percent of police personnel allegedly involved in corruption were not brought to book. Only four percent found guilty were given a sack. Over all, 1.36 percent incidents were investigated.

Since corruption takes place in a win-win situation as Prof Muzaffar Ahmad has stated at the post-database release press conference, the best anti-dote to the malady can come from a no-nonsense checking mechanism in every ministry working in tandem with the parliamentary standing committee on each ministry. That is as far as it can go now, which is to suggest that the already legislated Ombudsman must be turned into a reality.