Nathaniel
Global Integrity's Mohammed Syful Islam writes in from Bangladesh with his take on the future of corruption in his government. Corruption is everywhere, he says, but change may be coming.
"Koun Bonega Crorepati?" in Bangladesh
By Mohammed Syful Islam
On "Koun Bonega Crorepati" ("Who Will Be The Owner of Crore of Taka"), a popular game show on India's Zee TV, participants answer general knowledge questions to win one crore taka [one crore is equal to 10 million taka (US$145,571)].
But Bangladeshi politicians -- regardless of name or seniority -- do not need a TV game show to quickly earn several crores of taka. Thanks to a recent anti-corruption drive by the interim government that has revealed hundreds of cases of corruption, the Bangladeshi people now know that politicians and government officials have deceived them and earned crores of taka by abusing power.
Public opinion surveys from 2001 through 2006 show that people perceive Bangladesh as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, much to the denial of political leaders.
"Under the political governments of two ladies-Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia-corruption was made a way of life at all levels, particularly at the corridors of power," says Golam Haider, a senior journalist at The New Nation newspaper . "It was openly patronized and practiced across the table.
Despite the interim government's anti-corruption efforts, corruption still exists; now it's happening under the table. The anti-corruption drive is not running on the right track. Corrupt people cannot fight corruption, Haider says.
Jasmin Rahman, a master's student at a government university, says corruption begins at the school level. "A student who fails in school-level examinations still becomes eligible to sit for examinations under the education board, after she or he or their parents pay some bribe to the school authorities in the name of donation," Rahman says. "What can you expect from a student but corruption in professional life, whose school life is full of corrupt practices?" Rahman says she had to pay a bribe to board officials to gain admission to college.
At the very least, the interim government's anti-corruption drive has exposed several cases of government officials corruptly receiving money and property.
One example is the modern prince of Bangladesh, Tarique Rahman, and his younger brother, Arafat Rahman. The brothers are the sons of former President Ziaur Rahman and former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, and they reportedly amassed vast resources worth many crores of taka at home and abroad, thanks to power politics and their nexus with corruption, as perceived by many Bangladeshis.
Tarique and Arafat have known corruption most of their lives. In 1977, Ziaur Rahman, a former chief of army staff, became president of Bangladesh by overthrowing Justice Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem. But in the early hours of May 30, 1981, a group of army officers assassinated Zia, along with six bodyguards and two aides. During the assassination, family members struggled to survive. The then-government allotted a house in Dhaka, the capital, to Zia's wife, Begum Khaleda Zia, and their sons, Tarique and Arafat.
In 1991 and later in 2001, Begum Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) came into power, and her two sons reportedly began committing massive acts of corruption through misuse of their mother's office.
An investigation of Warid Telecom, a cell phone company that entered the Bangladesh market, revealed that Arafat Rahman purchased property in Dubai and put US$2 million in two Hong Kong banks-his kickbacks for assisting Warid Telecom in obtaining a licence, newspaper reports say.
The two brothers also failed to legalize their undeclared and questionable 1.68 crore taka (US$244,559) under an amnesty by paying 44 lakh taka (US$0.64) as a fine. After the National Board of Revenue (NBR) rejected their plea, it began the process of filing a tax evasion case against the two brothers under the Tax Ordinance of 1984. Their mother, Khaleda Zia, and a former finance minister in her cabinet, M Saifur Rahman, also failed to what is popularly called "whiten their black (untaxed) money" of 1 crore taka (US$145,571) and 1.30 crore taka (US$189,242) respectively.
Tarique Rahman is now in prison on several charges, while Arafat Rahman is free after being interrogated by the army-led joint forces. In his wealth statement to the Anti-Corruption Commission, Tarique Rahman said he owns a house in the capital, 2.01 acres of land worth 345,000 taka (US$5,022) in Bogra, savings certificates worth 20,000 taka (US$291) and 134,000 taka (US$1,951) in different banks, shares of different companies worth 7,170,000 taka (US$104,374) and five tolas (US 58 grams) of gold. His wife and daughter own assets valued around 1.40 crore taka (US$203,799). The common people believe that is only a small portion of what they actually own.
On July 16, 2007, also under the pretext of the war against corruption, police arrested Sheikh Hasina Wazed, former prime minister and president of the Bangladesh Awami League. Hasina Wazed—one of the two key leaders of the two main political parties-faces extortion charges. She is accused of extorting about 3 crore taka (US$436,713) from a businessman in return for allowing his company to set up a power plant during her tenure between 1996 and 2001. She is being held in a special jail as she awaits prosecution.
Several ministers of the Khaleda Zia cabinet have been sentenced to various prison terms in the last few weeks, while most of the senior ministers and politicians of the country are awaiting verdicts in corruption cases. The present interim government now detains hundreds of politicians, former ministers, government officials and businessmen on different corruption charges.
Amanullah Aman, a former state minister, was handed 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and three years of simple imprisonment and asked to pay a fine of 10 lakh taka (US$0.15) in a corruption case for earning huge money through illegal means. His wife, Sabera Aman, also was sentenced to suffer three years in jail, as the court found her guilty of assisting her husband in unlawfully obtaining money.
Another official, Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin, the ex-junior minister for civil aviation and tourism, was sentenced to suffer 13 years in prison for committing rampant corruption. The minister was found guilty of amassing wealth through misuse of power and illegal means. In the same case, his son, barrister Mir Mohammad Helaluddin, was given three years of imprisonment.
In yet another judgement, the court sentenced former lawmaker Wadud Bhuian to 20 years in jail for acquiring land and property worth 6 crore taka (US$873,426) through corruption and abuse of power. The court also ordered Bhuiyan to deposit his illegally obtained assets with the national exchequer.
Considering these examples, it's no wonder that Bangladeshi people widely believe that files in government offices never move from one table to another without fuel (a bribe or speed money). Through this means, scores of class-III and class-IV government employees "earn" crores of taka. For example, the anti-crime division found a Land Ministry petty officer possessing three multi-story buildings in Dhaka and huge tracts of land throughout the country. He obtained this wealth by misusing power and maintaining close relationships with ministers and political bigwigs.
There are many examples in this impoverished country of government leaders living as tenants in the houses of their class-III or class-IV employee subordinates.
Police unearthed 1 crore taka (US$145,571) in cash from the house of the chief forest officer, breaking all records of corruption. This government official earned a salary of only 20,000 taka (US$291) a month. The joint forces later found more than 1,000 acres of government land occupied by him and his family members. His wife changed cars twice a year and possessed 400 bhoris (US 4,000 grams) of gold ornaments.
Recently, I have been following the story of a corrupt businessman who has a long history of evading taxes and power tariffs. Customs authorities suspended his license for paying a fine with a fake treasury note. Some of my journalist colleagues, who benefit from the unscrupulous businessman, are pressuring me to not publish reports against him.
Yes corruption still exists, but since the interim government has declared a crusade against it, the situation in Bangladesh is beginning to change. People are very hopeful that the country will be able to break free from corruption's grip.
More local reporting on Bangladesh in the Global Integrity Report: Bangladesh
Monday, May 5, 2008
"Koun Bonega Crorepati?" in Bangladesh
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Media Self-Regulation in Central Asia
Journalists in the Kyrgyz Republic have created Central Asia's first independent media self-regulatory body. The Media Complaints Commission will address breaches in journalistic ethics.
This is clearly a step in the right direction, towards a truly independent press corps in the region. An OSCE OSCE Press Release reports:The new body, called the Media Complaints Commission, will handle complaints about alleged breaches of the code of ethics by any media outlet in the country. Composed of nine board members representing the media and the civil society, the body was set up to provide an alternative to court procedures and give moral redress in case of non-respect for ethics guidelines.
Global Integrity's reporting on media in Kyrgyzstan shows they have plenty of work to do.
"I hope this initiative will encourage media professionals in other countries of Central Asia to create similar accountability systems," [OSCE representative] Haraszti said, adding: "The governments of the region can assist similar developments only by exercising self-restraint in regulating the press. Responsibility can develop only in freedom."
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Nepal: Maoists Collecting "Voluntary" Taxes, Goverment Not Happy
Global Integrity contributor Ghanashyam Ojha starts a fire -- literally -- with a story exposing the financial workings of the Young Communist League in Nepal.
The report reads:"Shoe factories provide us shoes and various other industrialists provide food and other items. Even some hoteliers here willingly give us a monthly levy ranging from Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000. So we have not faced any financial problems so far" says Gurung, former company commander of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Third Division in Chitwan...
Ojha reports that the publication of his story drew immediate attention from the government and the YCL both. In an email to Global Integrity, Ojha writes:
The locals in Kapan refuse to talk to the press about what they think of YCL activities in their vicinity. "I don't want to speak about it," a local hotelier told the Post, refusing to reveal his identity.This week I wrote a story on the economy of Young Communist League (YCL), a youth wing of Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists. The economy of YCL was never reported and it exploded right after it was published in The Kathmandu Post and Kantipur daily, two largest daily newspapers in Nepal.
The same evening, when the story was published, police raided offices of YCL in Kathmandu. The YCL burnt tyres, called a brief strike in Kathmandu. I also received threats in a very polite way by some YCL leaders. I was pleased to have been successful to expose such a sensational issue in Nepal.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Pakistani Judges Resist Military Rule
Regarding the military in Pakistan, a Global Integrity contributor writes: “…the power of the military has transformed Pakistani society, in which the armed forces have become an independent class, entrenched in the corporate sector, thus, controlling major assets of Pakistan. The military has a strong control over the financial institutions of Pakistan and therefore takes most of Pakistan’s national budget and enjoy luxuries by spending national resources.”
But there is resistance to this power, in the form of a judiciary that is fighting for the rule of law and the constitution. In this article, Global Integrity looks into the expansion of military rule in Pakistan, and the forces that work to counter it. Pakistani Judges Resist Military Rule
By Global Integrity staff, based on the Global Integrity Report: Pakistan
Pakistan has been under military rule ever since General Pervez Musharraf ousted previous Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in October of 1999. In the years following the coup, which Musharraf often justified by promising to clean up the corruption of the former regime, Musharraf named himself President while remaining head of the army and granted himself new powers including the right to dismiss an elected parliament. Most recently, in March 2007, Musharraf suspended Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudry for challenging corruption within the government.
Pakistan is of key interest to the United States because of its geographical proximity to Afghanistan and Pakistan’s history of battling radical Islamic extremists within its own borders. The United States Senate recently approved an aid package to Pakistan worth $785 million, $300 million of which was earmarked for counter terrorism security assistance. Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks Pakistan has become one of the largest recipients of U.S. military aid.
The primary finding of the assessment is that while executive and legislative accountability are weak in Pakistan, the judiciary has remained independent from the government and is effective in upholding the rule of law. Media, Law Enforcement and the Civil Service, however, are rated as “Weak” and “Very Weak.”
The detailed findings of the study that are described immediately below and are depicted in the graphic that follows reflect the ratings given to Pakistan on 23 categories of good governance, government accountability and anti-corruption indicators. Those categories comprise more than 300 specific questions scored by our in-country team.
The detailed findings, which led to previous conclusions about the weakness of executive and legislative accountability along with media and law enforcement, are presented below.
Key Findings of the Global Integrity Report: Pakistan
>> 12 out of 23 (or 52%) of the government accountability and anti-corruption sub categories for Pakistan earned “Weak” or “Very Weak” ratings. The country earned “Strong” or “Very Strong” ratings for just 3 of the 23 categories assessed (13%) compared to an international average of 31%.
>> Of the 55 countries assessed in the Global Integrity Report: 2007, Pakistan had the fourth largest gap between having anti-corruption laws on the books and actual implementation. This points towards a lack of political will and leadership in enforcing existing anti-corruption safeguards.
>> Judicial Accountability was assessed as “Moderate” and reflected the judiciary’s efforts to stand up for constitutionalism when the military attempted to control its functioning and decisions.
>> The military’s lack of tolerance for dissent earned Pakistan a ”Weak” rating for Media in the Global Integrity Index: 2007. Musharraf’s suspension of Chief Justice Chaudhry, in March 2007, triggered a wave of protests that were broadcasted on television, the internet and mobile phones along with critical assessments of the current government. In response, Musharraf deepened existing controls over media to “… prohibit the broadcast of programs ‘against the armed forces’ ” (Global Integrity Report: Pakistan 2007: Timeline).
>> The Global Integrity Report: 2007 assesses Pakistani law enforcement agencies as highly ineffective. Law enforcement agency appointments are not made according to professional criteria and are subject to political interference leading to a “Very Weak” rating.
>> Pakistan earns a “Very Weak” rating for civil service regulations because of its complete lack of regulations governing gifts and hospitality to civil servants (tying Pakistan with its poorer neighbors Nepal and Bangladesh).
Global Integrity's Conclusions
According to Global Integrity’s rating of Pakistan’s institutions and accountability mechanisms previous analyses have concluded that the Pakistan’s governance problems lie mainly in weak civil service, executive and legislative accountability along with poor law enforcement and weak media.
Pakistan’s chances of putting into place effective anti-corruption mechanisms now rests on the country’s ability to rid itself of military rule. Successful and clean elections, should they occur, are necessary but insufficient to ensure long-term governance reform, since Pakistan suffered from poor governance even when it was a democratic state prior to Musharraf’s coup.
Lifting restraints on media, guaranteeing judicial independence from the executive branch, and permitting freedom of association can, however, prove to be important initial steps towards a more effective anti-corruption system in Pakistan.
Image: Steve Evans (cc)
Saturday, February 2, 2008
How the Middle East lost its Internet
Last Wednesday a ship's anchor cut two undersea fiber-optic cables, crippling Internet access for 75 million people in the Middle East and South Asia. This wonderfully executed data graphic from TeleGeography.com shows how it happened (click the image for full size).
UPDATE: The Egyptian government now says that no ships were present over the fiber-optic cables when they were cut near Alexandria. The actual cause of the cable failures is unclear. Unlike the conveniently timed "failure" of an undersea cable that severed Burma's connection to the outside world during pro-democracy protests last year, there's no obvious political incentive for this cable failure.
VERY LATE UPDATE: Deliberate sabotage speculation on the rise.
Afghanistan: Internet censorship backed by the death penalty
An Afghan journalism student, Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, has been sentenced to death by the U.S. ally for downloading and distributing information on women's rights under Islam. He was tried by a religious court and, according to his family, without legal representation. British newspaper The Independent has the story, and is campaigning for his release:
Sayed Pervez Kambaksh's imminent execution is an affront to civilised values. It is not, however, a foregone conclusion. If enough international pressure is brought to bear on President Karzai's government, his sentence may yet be overturned. Add your weight to the campaign by urging the Foreign Office to demand that his life be spared. Sign our e-petition at www.independent.co.uk/petition
The Afghan Senate initially upheld the sentence of the religious court, but after widespread international protest (like the petition above) has reversed its position, saying the earlier vote to kill the man was "a technical mistake."
Not exactly a moment of political courage there, but an encouraging sign that Kambaksh may be freed, and an example of how rapid international condemnation can impact local politics.
With respect to the issue that started this trouble, we present this analysis of women's rights in "liberated" Afghanistan. Short version: it's not good.
After six years in control, this government has proved itself to be as bad as the Taliban – in fact, it is little more than a photocopy of the Taliban. The situation in Afghanistan is getting progressively worse – and not just for women, but for all Afghans.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Bill Clinton goes to Kazakhstan and everyone wins
A blockbuster story from the New York Times by Jo Becker and Don Van Natta Jr. It's lengthy, so I'll hit the highlights here.
A Canadian mining mogul, Frank Giustra, flies to Kazakhstan and meets with de facto president-for-life Nursultan A. Nazarbayev. Bill Clinton tags along. The three have dinner together, and shortly afterwards, everyone wins.
Two days later, Giustra secures a lucrative mining deal to extract uranium from Kazakhstan. Nazabayev secures the endorsement of Bill Clinton, receiving praise for “opening up the social and political life of your country.” (Which for the record, our data shows has not occurred). And a few months later, Bill Clinton's foundation receieves US$31.3 million from Giustra. A nice little thank you.
Clinton says it's all coincidental and they never discussed mining. When Giustra is pressed by the Times, he says he “may well have mentioned my general interest in the Kazakhstan mining business" to President Nazabayev on the night they met.
New York Times has the full story.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Clean Elections No Guarantee of Strong Democratic Society
New Report Assesses Anti-Corruption Mechanisms and Government Accountability in 55 Countries, Including First Investigation of
(Washington D.C.) – Although elections are often touted as the linchpin of governance reform efforts around the world, a new report finds long-term benefits offered by elections are often undermined by a lack of government accountability and the absence of strong anti-corruption mechanisms. The report, a major investigative study of 55 countries, was released today by Global Integrity, an international nonprofit organization that tracks global governance and corruption trends.
“We have to stop using elections as a simplistic litmus test for a government’s commitment to democracy,” said Global Integrity’s Managing Director Nathaniel Heller. “We now know there is little linkage between elections and the much tougher reforms that must be made, especially in countries at political crossroads such as Pakistan, Ukraine, Georgia, and Kenya.”
The Global Integrity Report: 2007 covers most of the Group of 8 (G8) countries as well as dozens of the world’s emerging markets and developing nations, from Argentina to China to Zambia. Rather than try and measure corruption directly, the report investigates and assesses the government accountability mechanisms and transparency measures needed to prevent corruption and promote good governance.
Many of the findings of the report should be sobering for policy makers and investors alike. The weaknesses found in China’s anti-corruption framework, for example, raise questions as to the true risks facing investors rushing to capitalize on the country’s economic boom– and to the risks Chinese investment funds pose to Western markets. “China’s lack of strong anti-corruption mechanisms could soon be to foreign investment what subprime mortgages have been to the U.S. economy,” stated Heller. “The message from our report to investors should sound a lot like ‘buyer beware’.”
Other major findings of the report include the following:
· The US and other G8 countries suffer from many of the same corruption challenges as developing countries, especially in election and campaign financing. While many observers tend to assume that wealthier countries have developed to a point where corruption is no longer a problem, Global Integrity’s 2007 data for the United States, France, Italy, Japan, and Canada paints a decidedly different picture.
· Despite the conventional wisdom that changes in governance and anti-corruption performance take many years to manifest themselves, several countries exhibited significant improvements or backsliding from 2006 to 2007. The biggest gainers in the past year were Bulgaria, Nepal and Azerbaijan; Nigeria and Georgia were the countries that experienced the greatest declines.
· Poor ratings for several close allies of the United States highlight the challenges the U.S. faces in promoting democratic reforms in countries where it has competing security interests. The report found that countries like Pakistan and Georgia posted ‘weak’ or ‘very weak’ ratings for many of the anti-corruption, accountability and transparency indicators.
· A widespread lack of government accountability among foreign aid recipients presents serious dilemmas for Western and multilateral aid agencies. Despite a growing awareness by aid donors of the need to direct aid to non-governmental stakeholders, like civil society groups, aid agencies continue working primarily with the very same executive branches that are often hindering democratic reforms.
“This report should be a roadmap for change and a wake-up call to policy makers, investors, and aid donors around the globe,” said Global Integrity’s International Director, Marianne Camerer. “It’s also a take-action toolkit for public officials and citizens who want to fight corruption and increase government accountability.”
The report is the product of months of on-the-ground reporting and data gathering by a team of more than 250 in-country journalists and researchers who prepared more than a million words of text and 20,000 data points for their respective countries. Twenty-four countries were repeated from Global Integrity’s 2006 assessments, while 31 were newly assessed.
To access the Global Integrity Report: 2007, please visit http://report.globalintegrity.org. For more information about the organization, visit http://www.globalintegrity.org. Global Integrity is an independent, non-profit organization tracking governance and corruption trends around the world. Global Integrity works with local teams of researchers and journalists to monitor openness and accountability. Its data and reporting are used routinely by aid donors, governments, grassroots advocates, and investors to prioritize governance challenges in countries and develop roadmaps for reform.
Global Integrity is grateful to the Legatum Institute for Global Development ( www.ligd.org) for its continued support of Global Integrity’s work. LIGD is an independent policy, advocacy and advisory organisation within the Legatum group of companies (www.legatum.com). The Institute’s mission is to research and promote those principles that drive the creation of global prosperity and the expansion of human liberty and well-being, including the rule of law, transparency, and accountable government as the pillars of a prosperous and free society. Other supporters of the Global Integrity Report: 2007 were the Australian Agency for International Development, the Wallace Global Fund, and the World Bank.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Nepal's Media Freedoms: Lost in Transition?
Journalists in Nepal are currently under intense pressure, a distressing departure from the generally positive transition from absolute rule to democracy.
King Gyanendra led a brutal campaign to censor the media after dismissing the elected government in February 2005. Weeks of public protest forced Gyanendra to abdicate in April 2006, leading to the reinstatement of the legislature and other democratic institutions. Yet despite the welcome return of popular rule, Nepalese journalists continue to face threats and harassment today.
In June of this year, two newspapers were forced to suspend publication because of pressure from a trade union affiliated with the Maoist party, which now shares power in Parliament. This was widely perceived as a move to influence media coverage of the party. According to IFEX, an international coalition of media monitors, more than 116 journalists have been threatened, abducted, or harassed in the first six months of 2007 alone despite the passage of the Right to Information Act. Assessments by the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Sans Frontieres report similar findings.
These reports illustrate the systemic governance challenges facing Nepal, challenges highlighted in the 2006 Global Integrity Report, which assessed more than 40 countries across nearly 300 indicators of good governance and anti-corruption mechanisms. Nepal earned a "Very Weak" overall rating, in part due to serious problems with freedom of the press. Despite a "Very Weak" rating in the Media sub-category, Nepal fared better in that area than its South Asian neighbor Pakistan and ten other countries covered in the assessment. However, the Global Integrity data also reveals that Nepal, along with such countries as Armenia, Brazil, Egypt, Kenya, Philippines, and Tajikistan, faces particular problems when it comes to protecting journalists from harassment, an assessment the more recent IFEX, CPJ and RSF reports confirm. Additionally, despite the restoration of free speech, Nepalese media is still heavily politicized.
Nepal is at a critical crossroads. As investigative reporter Hari Bahadur Thapa observes in The Corruption Notebooks 2006, while there is "cause for hope" with the reinstatement of Parliament, the "newly restored government has its hands full" when it comes to combating corruption in the political and economic spheres.
Government support for the rights of journalists and press freedom is an important step in the broader process of consolidating democracy and good governance. To date, this step remains to be fully taken.
-- Raymond June (October 1, 2007)
Global Integrity Report, Nepal:
Intro, Scorecard, Reporter's Notebook, Timeline, Factsheet
Country Profile:
BBC News, Nepal Country Profile
Related Readings:
Committee to Protect Journalists, Nepal Archive
Mahendra Lawoti, Contentious Politics and Democratization in Nepal (amazon.com)
IFEX, Nepal Alerts
PBS Frontline, Nepal: Caught in the People's War
Reporters Sans Frontieres, Nepal Annual Report
Related Organization:
Nepal Press Freedom
New Blog Design
With the help of some talented programmers who offer their work to the open-source community, as well as some good old fashioned poking-around-with-code, we have a new layout for the Commons. Not all features are up to speed yet, but the outline is here.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
The Limits of U.S. Litmus Tests in Pakistan
Internally here at Global Integrity, we've been deeply engaged in a discussion about Western countries' use of clean elections as a litmus test for "democracy" or "governance." The current debate over the direction of U.S. policy in Pakistan, captured nicely by the Washington Post today, demonstrates the limits of such an approach.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Bhutto Assasinated
Regardless of your personal views of the controversial former Pakistani prime minister, it's hard not to view this as another blow to democratic consolidation in the troubled South Asian nation.
Coverage:
Reuters
New York Times
The Guardian
UPI
Dawn (leading English-language daily in Pakistan)