66.5% households are victims of corruption by services sector

Staff Correspondent: Around 66.5% households were found to be victims of corruption by the services sector. Among them, about 72.5% of household surveyed were victims of corruption by the law enforcement agencies, 67.3% by passport sector and 65.4% by BRTA, said a household survey of the Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) on Thursday.

The findings of the survey, tilted 'Corruption in Service Sector: National Household Survey 2017', was unveiled at a press conference at TIB’s Dhanmondi office in the capital where Executive Director of TIB Dr Iftekharuzzaman and TIB Chairperson Sultana Kamal were present among others.

16 categories of entities and sectors in Bangladesh were incorporated in the TIB survey.

Among them, 60.5% of household surveyed were victims of corruption by judiciary, 44.9% by land services, 42.9% by education sector, 42.5% by health sector, 41.6% agriculture, 38.9% by power sector, 38.3% by gas, 26.7% by local government institution, 12.3% insurance sector, 11.1% by tax and levy, 5.7% banking, 5.4% NGO and 22.0% by other miscellaneous sectors.

The survey revealed that the law enforcement agencies are the most corrupt service sector followed by the Department of Immigration and Passport and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA).

According to the TIB research findings, around 72% of household surveyed were victims of corruption by the law enforcement agencies.

Among the surveyed households, 60.7% were found to have offered bribe to the law enforcers, TIB said.

Asked about the reasons behind their bribing, TIB said that 89% households think without offering bribes they would not get any service.

The survey revealed that an amount of Tk 10,688.9 crore was exchanged as bribe in services sector in 2017, which was 0.5 percent of the country's GDP in fiscal 2016-17 and 3.4 percent of revised budget of the same fiscal year.


risingbd/Dhaka/Aug 30, 2018/MA Rahman/AI