Aziz claims graft reduced at top level

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In an apparent attempt to downplay the recent findings of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) about corruption, Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam yesterday claimed that the government has succeeded in reducing corruption at top levels while cutting down the menace at lower levels remains a time-consuming work.

Questioning the TIB’s method of concluding that corruption in some sectors increased in the first half of 2007, the adviser said, “It is not right to think, based on some numbers, that corruption has increased or decreased.”

The caretaker government’s anti-corruption drive was aimed at cutting down corruption at top levels, not at lower levels, and the government has achieved major success in it, he said after a meeting with the visiting delegation of the board of directors of Asian Development Bank at the planning ministry.

“I can say for sure that the advisers and special assistants do not indulge in corruption. This is a major success,” he said.

The adviser made the statement when reporters asked for his comments on TIB’s report titled “National Household Survey on Corruption, 2007″. The report said corruption in education, health, land administration and local government sectors and in different utility services increased in the first half of 2007 despite the caretaker government’s anti-corruption drives.

Conducted among 5,000 households on incidents of corruption that took place between July, 2006 and June, 2007, the survey also revealed that corruption decreased, between January and June, 2007, in law enforcement agencies, judiciary, and in the power, banking and tax sectors compared to the records of previous six months.

Asked about cutting down corruption at lower levels, the adviser yesterday said, “It is a time consuming task. Different social and economic issues should be taken into consideration for this.”

The TIB report said law enforcement agencies including the joint forces, police and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) were found to be the most corrupt in terms of magnitude while land administration was found to be the most corrupt in terms of the amount of bribe that went into the sector.

Asked to comment on the TIB revelations, LGRD Adviser Anwarul Iqbal told reporters at Bangladesh Secretariat that he had asked TIB for a copy of the report and that he would comment on it after going through it.

Commerce Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman also declined to comment before reading the report.

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Director (admin) Col Hanif Iqbal said the commission is not worried about the report of TIB.

“The commission will be working following its own methods and will not be run by the planning of any other institutions,” he said at his commission office yesterday.

He said the ACC is not worried as the survey of TIB covered a time between mid-2006 and mid-2007.

He said, “The ACC believes that corruption cannot be uprooted overnight using Aladin’s lamp.”

About TIB’s suggestions to strengthen ACC’s anti-graft drives, he said the commission would try to incorporate the suggestions in its activities.

Replying to a question, he, however, said the ACC is not against the TIB report.

Agreeing to the report about corruption of Police, IGP Noor Mohammad said only advising is not sufficient to change police, it needs time as well as the mentality to change and for that purpose community policing programme has been taken up.

On continuation of this programme, the mentality of police will change and corruption may lessen, said the IGP speaking as the chief guest in a seminar held at the Barisal Auditorium yesterday.

He added that in comparison to the population of the country the number of policemen is very small.

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