New Age Staff Correspondent
Corruption has increased in the country again in 2014, showed Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2014, released globally on Wednesday.
Bangladesh has slid two notches down in the index from the last year with the TI ranking the country 14th among the most corrupt nations.
On a scale of 0-100, Bangladesh scored 25 to become 145th out of 174 countries this year while it had scored 27 in 2013 to become 136th least corrupt nation. This year, a total of 106 countries have scored global average score of 43 or less.
Scoring maximum 92 out of 100, Scandinavian country Denmark topped the list of least corrupt nations in the index while New Zealand and Finland have been ranked second and third respectively.
The TI Bangladesh unveiled its corruption perception index at a press conference at the National Press Club.
‘Bangladesh ranked 14th from the bottom in the Corruption Perceptions Index this year showing an increasing trend of corruption in the country,’ TI Bangladesh chapter executive director Iftekharuzzaman told the press conference.
He said that things were improving from 2010 to 2013 as Bangladesh was ranked 16th in 2013, 13th in 2012, 13th in 2012 and 12th in 2010.
This year’s index showed that corruption started increasing again in Bangladesh, he said.
Simultaneously with Bangladesh, four other countries — Guinea, Kenya, Laos and Papua New Guinea — were ranked 145th in the list of least corrupt nations.
According to the German-based corruption watchdog’s index, Somalia and North Korea were ranked as the most corrupt nations.
Among the seven South Asian countries, Bangladesh was ranked as the second most corrupt nation after Afghanistan while Bhutan scoring 65 out of 100 was been emerged as the least corrupt nation in the South Asia whereas its position was 30 in the list of the global least corrupt nations.
In South Asia, Sri Lanka and India scored 38 to simultaneously become 85th, Nepal and Pakistan scored 29 to jointly become 126th and Afghanistan scored 12 to get 172nd position in the list of least corrupt nations.
Afghanistan was ranked the third most corrupt nation after Sudan.
The survey observed that Bangladesh dropped off in the graft index as the country could not fulfil its promises towards curbing corruptions.
It has also identified the political and administrative influences on Anti-Corruption Commission and its administrative power as a major reason behind the worsening situation.
Iftekharuzzaman said that weakness of the state institutions like parliament which could ensure accountability and transparency had helped deteriorate corruption scenario in Bangladesh.
He stressed the need for establishing a strong parliament to curb corruption.
Iftekharuzzaman said that Bangladesh would have achieved more four per cent national growth had the corruption been stamped out of the country.
He said that the capacity of the state functionaries to contain corruption had also influenced the Corruption Perceptions Index.
TIB chairperson Sultana Kamal termed the downing trend of corruption ‘worrying.’
TIB trustees M Hafiz Uddin Khan, also a former caretaker government adviser, and ATM Shamsul Huda, former chief election commissioner, also attended the press conference.
Source: New Age
