Service delivery in Bangladesh involved an estimated Tk 108.3 billion in underhand dealings in a year, according to a 2021 survey by a graft watchdog.
At least 70.9 per cent of the service-recipients in the country were victims of graft and had to pay the aggregate amount in the past year, the Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) said in its survey report published Wednesday.
The household survey found law-enforcement agencies as the worst service- provider followed by the Department of Immigration and Passports, and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA).
The service-receivers had to pay Tk 6,636 on average to avail a service, from both public and private sector, while about 79.14 per cent of the victims were uninterested to lodge complaint against corruption amid perception of not getting any remedy.
The findings of the survey, titled 'Corruption in Service Sectors: National Household Survey 2021', were presented at a press conference by TIB at its office in Dhaka's Dhanmondi.
TIB Research Fellows Farhana Rahman and Mohammad Nure Alam jointly presented the survey results at the event presided over by TIB executive director (ED) Dr Iftekharuzzaman.
The survey shows that 74.4 per cent of the service-recipients faced sop at law-enforcement agencies while 70.5 per cent at passport office, and 68.3 per cent at BRTA.
Besides, about 56.8 per cent of the survey respondents faced graft in the judiciary, 48.7 per cent in health sector, 46.6 per cent in local-government bodies, 46.3 per cent at land offices, and 33.9 per cent in education sector.
Speaking at the event, the TIB ED said, "The survey, conducted basing on the people's firsthand experience, unveiled that the people who are responsible to prevent corruption by enforcing laws are among the most corrupt."
Instead of decreasing, corruption and irregularities have increased worryingly and got "institutionalised".
He indicated that this revelation was only the tip of the iceberg as the survey was conducted precisely on service sector, leaving out other big areas of corruption like infrastructure, power and energy, public procurement etc, as TIB carries out separate sector-wise studies.
Evaluating overall outcome of the survey, Dr Zaman said it is noteworthy that people in rural areas are more vulnerable to corruption in obtaining service than the urban population.
Around 71.2 per cent of the respondents from rural areas who availed different services were subjected to paying sop while the rate is 70.7 in urban areas, the survey shows.
Responding to a question on people's unwillingness to file complaints, he said grievance process is quite complex while there are few examples of taking action against the corrupt based on complaints given by commoners.
"Besides, there is a culture of 'give and take' in the country, which encourages many service recipients to give money willingly for a service, which should be stopped," he notes.
Responding to another question about role of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in curbing corruption, the ED said the ACC has the requisite power to contain the spread of graft but it "isn't excising its power properly".
Citing that retired bureaucrats are appointed to top positions of the commission, he said, "There is a conflict of interest in the decisions of ACC as very often it becomes hard for it to take action against government officials in higher positions."
The survey shows that among the types of corruption the households faced mainly include neglect of duty (55.5 per cent), bribery (40.1 per cent), misbehaviour (23.4 per cent) nepotism (5.7 per cent), fraud (5.5 per cent), intervention by influential (3.5 per cent), and embezzlement (3.4 per cent).
The reasons behind bribing include unavailability of service unless money is paid, avoiding harassment and trouble, getting service in time, not knowing the determined fees, speedy service, and getting illegal favour.
Nearly 77 per cent of medium and large businesses are the victims of corruption followed by housework (75.1 per cent), teaching (74.7 per cent) farming (74.3 per cent), small business (74.2 per cent), and private job (72.3 per cent).
Even 51.3 per cent of government officials are graft victims to get a service while retired officials are more vulnerable to corruption than the running ones, the survey shows.
The burden of bribery is more on people with low income (Tk 24,000 or below per month) as they had to spend 2.1 per cent of their earnings as bribes while the burden is lesser at 0.3 per cent for people of high income (Tk 85,001 or higher).
The TIB found out only 18.94 per cent of corruption victims having filed complaints against the misconducts they faced, 1.92 per cent were denied by the relevant authority from complaining while 79.14 per cent didn't feel like filing complaints.
Among the complaints, only 14.8 per cent were resolved by authorities while 72.3 per cent of the allegations remained unsolved, survey data show.
The Bangladesh chapter of the Berlin-based graft watchdog also compared its previous household survey conducted in 2017 with the current one which showed that the rate of people compelled to pay bribe dropped to 40.1 per cent in 2021 from 49.8 per cent in 2017.
Meanwhile, neglect of duty by service-providers was faced by 39.9 per cent of the survey respondents which increased to 55.4 per cent in 2021.
In 2017, the TIB survey estimated that the service-receivers had to pay around Tk 106.89 billion in bribe which increased slightly by 1.31 per cent to Tk 108.3 billion . The estimated amount of bribe during the FY 2020-2021 was 0.4 per cent of the GDP and 5.9 per cent of the national budget (revised).
TIB says the rate of corruption in the service sector increased to 70.9 per cent in 2021 from 66.5 per cent in 2017.
The agency has conducted national survey in service sectors since 1997 to identify the nature and extent of corruption in service sectors.
The ninth survey has captured corruption households experienced during getting services from service sectors from January to December 2021.
The international graft watchdog surveyed a total of 15,454 households - 62.46 per cent rural and 37.54 per cent urban - from all eight divisions.