Published: 09 July 2013
According to Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) of Transparency International (TI), 93% of the respondents believed that political parties and police were most corrupted public service institutions while 89% indicated judiciary as the most corrupt.
As part of global release, GCB was also released in Bangladesh by TIB through a press conference on 9th July 2013. 60% Bangladeshi respondents believed that prevalence of corruption had increased in 2011-12, the GCB revealed. Interestingly personal experiences of the respondents indicated that in 2012 bribery had decreased to some extent in eight public sectors i.e. police, judiciary, land, license & permit, health & medication, education, utilities and tax compared to 2010. Berlin based TI carried out the study on perceptions and experiences of 1 lakh 14 thousand 270 people of 107 countries. It includes perceptions and experiences of 1822 selected respondents from Bangladesh during the period of 10 February to 15 March 2013.
According to the GCB, 72 % of the respondent perceived police as the most corrupt while 63 % considered judiciary as the second most corrupt followed by land service (44 %). 76 % of the respondents considered graft in government sectors as a very serious problem and 58 % respondents viewed bribery as the only way to get government service in Bangladesh. The barometer also revealed that 90% of the respondents perceived that the government was influenced by political parties, its activists and a section of businessmen. The survey also came up with an optimistic finding that almost all respondents wanted to be involved in anti-corruption activities.
During the launch, TIB recommended a number of policy and institutional measures and initiate advocacy campaigns to fight corruption. It also urged the government to restore confidence and faith by increasing the effectiveness of fundamental democratic institutions.
