THE Anti-Corruption Commission having initiated inquiries of corruption against several dozen police officials, retired and serving, and some ruling Awami League members of parliament having been critical of corruption rampant within the government suggest that corruption has reared its ugly head almost everywhere, lending credence to the perception that corruption has already been institutionalised. Transparency International Bangladesh in a survey in 2022 found the law enforcement agencies to be the most corrupt among 17 services sector and noted that 74.4 per cent of the service seekers fell victim to the corruption of the agencies and 55.7 per cent of the service-seekers had to pay an average of Tk 6,635 in bribe for their services. The agencies included the regular unit, special units, traffic units, highway police and the Rapid Action Battalion. The organisation then noted that corruption was institutionalised in the police and corruption in the police force could continue apace riding on a culture of impunity bolstered by an absence of action and accountability. The Awami League lawmaker for the Narail 1 constituency said in the parliament on June 26 that corruption had been institutionalised, noting that people involved in procurement and project implementation had committed corruption and made a fortune.
What appears surprising is that almost everybody in society knows that public agencies are riddled with corruption and the people working there 鈥� not all of them but a significant portion of them 鈥� are behind such corruption. People know of it. The media report on the corruption. Only the people in charge of the agencies appear to have been in the dark about it until and unless there is a furore over one or two specific cases that make the headlines. When questions are raised about the inaction of the authorities against corruption in the police, a former inspector general of police seeks to say that there is a mechanism in the police to check against corruption and there are instruments such as the Police Regulations, Bengal 1943, Government Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules and the Police Officers (Special Provisions) Ordinance 1976 to deal with corruption. There are, of course, devices, but they have hardly been used during the commission of corruption or there are no drivers of the devices. Yet, the current inspector general of police seeks to say that they have a policy of zero tolerance of corruption. And, yet again, when some police officials made the headlines because of their amassing wealth beyond their known sources of income, the police administration has, as in a recent case, used the association of police services, which involve all in the force, to issue a statement to raise a shield against corruption in the force. Another Awami League lawmaker, who is also a joint general secretary of the ruling party, in the parliament says that with such statements in favour of corrupt individuals the professional associations are shouldering the responsibility for the corruption.
Corruption in public agencies and state institutions has reached such a height that it appears irreparable unless the government immediately purge all public agencies and state institutions of corruption and the corrupt people working there. Zero tolerance of corruption must mean no corruption.
