Role of Civil Servants in Combating Corruption

1. Combating Corruption
in Bangladesh:
Role of Civil Servants
The lecture note is prepared for the Special Foundation Course
Public Administration Training Center, Dhaka
By
Dr. Md. Shamsul Arefin
Secretary
Anti Corruption Commission, Bangladesh.
January 4, 2018 Dr. Md. Shamsul Arefin 1

2. Historical Development
• Bureau of Anti- Corruption was formed in 1943 under
Anti-Corruption Act 1957.
• Since its inception in 1943 until 1983 the organization
functioned as a branch of the Police
• In 1983 a separate employment charter was provided to
the Bureau curtailing its dependency on the police for
manpower.
• The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) Bangladesh was
created under section 3 of Anti Corruption Commission
Act, 2004. The first set of office bearers were appointed
on 21 November 2004.
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3. Mission of ACC Bangladesh
• To combat, control and prevent corruption.
• To control corruption by identifying areas
of vulnerabilities for prosecution action,
prevention, curative treatment and
advocacy.
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4. Composition of Commission
• The Commission is consist of three
commissioners, one of them appointed as
chairman who is the chief executive of the
commission;
• Commissioners are appointed by the President on
the recommendation of the Selection Committee
for a period of four years and are not eligible for
re-appointment.
• The commission is independent and work
impartially.January 4, 2018 Dr. Md. Shamsul Arefin 4

5. Power of the Commission
• The ACC allows the Commission to
discharge its power under the act
independently (section 24) and also allow
Financial independence (section 25)
• The commission also has the power to
investigate (Section 20), Power of Arrest
(Section 21) and conducts Hearing of
accused person (Section 22)
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6. Functions of the Commission
(Sections 17)
• To enquire into and conduct investigation of offences mentioned in the
schedule
• To file cases on the basis of enquiry or investigation and conduct cases
• To hold enquiry into allegations of corruption on its own motion or on
the application of aggrieved person or any person on his behalf
• To perform any function assigned to Commission by any Act in respect
of corruption
• To review any recognized provisions of any law for prevention of
corruption and submit recommendation to the President for their
effective implementation
• To undertake research, prepare plan for prevention of corruption and
submit to the President, recommendation for action based on the result of
such research
• To determine the procedure of enquiry, investigation, filing of cases and
also the procedure of according sanction of the Commission for filing
case against corruption and
• To perform any other duty as may be considered necessary for
prevention of corruption.
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7. Special features of ACC Act
• The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) Act was
promulgated on 23 February 2004 which came into force
on 09 May 2004.
• The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) Act was the Act
no 5 of 2004.
• There are 38 Sections in that Act.
• Out of those there are 3 penal sections.
• Penal sections are- Section 19(3), Section 26(2) and
Section 27(1)
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8. Some Important Aspects of the ACC Act
• In order to make recommendation for the appointment
of commissioners, a Selection Committee of five
members shall be constituted (Section 7).
• Section 10(3) - No commissioner shall be removed from
office except on similar grounds and in accordance with
the similar procedures as apply to the removal of a
judge of the Supreme Court.
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9. Definition of Corruption
• Corruption is operationally defined as the
misuse of entrusted power for private gain-
Transparency International.
• Corruption is the abuse of public office for
private gain - World Bank
• Misuse of Power for private gain
 Bribery
 Extortion
 Manipulation of Laws
Legal Definition : According to the Section 2(e) of the Anti-Corruption
Commission Act-2004 : ‘Corruption’ means the offences set out in the
schedule to this law”.
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10. • Offences under Anti-Corruption Act 2004 (Possession of
property disproportionate to known source of income).
•Offences punishable under the Prevention of Corruption
Act, 1947 (Act 11 of 1947).
•Offences under Money Laundering Prevention Act -2009.
•Offences punishable under sections 161-169, 217, 218, 408,
409 and 477A of the Penal Code, 160 (Act XLV of 1960).
•Offences of abetment, conspiracy and attempts as defined
respectively in section 109, 120B and 511 of the Penal Code,
1860 (Act XLV of 1860) in relation to clauses (a) to The
Anti-Corruption Act, 2004.
The schedule of ACC
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11. The Dynamics of Corruption
• C =M+D-A-S
• Where, C=Corruption
• M= Monopoly
• D= Discretion
• A= Accountability
• S= Public sector salaries
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14. Some Sources of Corruption
1. Over and under-invoicing in Imports & Exports
2. Tendering
3. Procurement
4. Audit
5. Land management
6. Law enforcement
7. Customs
8. Loan from Banks
9. Judiciary
10. Others
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15. January 4, 2018 Dr. Md. Shamsul Arefin 15
Role of Civil Servants
 Use minimum or no discretion (The exercise of
individual judgment, instead of formal rules, in making decisions is discretion.)
 Create perfect competitions
 Open Integrity unit
 Maintain Transparency
 Ensure Accountability
 Ensure Rule of law
 Ensure Good governance
 Follow a person who is a Role Model to you
 Try to be a Role Model to others

16. January 4, 2018 Dr. Md. Shamsul Arefin 16
Which of the following acts do you consider to
be acts of corruption:
Stealing money from government (embezzlement)
Threatening individuals with harm if they do not give
money (Extortion)
Influencing government contracts in return for financial or
other gains
Bribery
Promotion of unqualified individuals for political reasons or
other gains
Favouring relatives and friends e.g. appointing them to
good positions (nepotism)

17. January 4, 2018 Dr. Md. Shamsul Arefin 17
Please indicate how much do you agree with the
following statements
 I would feel comfortable helping my family
member get a job in my govt office, provided
they were qualified.
…even if they were not as qualified as another
candidate.
 I would feel obligated to use my influence as a
civil servant to help my friend / relative with a
problem if I could.
 Corruption by low-level employees is more
acceptable than corruption by high-level officials.

18. Deficiencies
 lack of
transparency
 lack of competition
 Monopoly
 weak accountability
 weak capacity
 Discretion
I MPLI CATI ONS OF
CORRUPTI ON
• Graft & CorruptionGraft & Corruption
• InefficiencyInefficiency
• Graft & CorruptionGraft & Corruption
• InefficiencyInefficiency
• Poor QualityPoor Quality
• High CostHigh Cost
• Poor QualityPoor Quality
• High CostHigh Cost
POOR SERVICEPOOR SERVICE
DELIVERYDELIVERY
POOR SERVICEPOOR SERVICE
DELIVERYDELIVERYJanuary 4, 2018 Dr. Md. Shamsul Arefin 18

19. Corruption: Preventing access to education
Corruption in Education: Ratio of Service Receipients Forced to Pay Bribe
54.1
21.8
35.5 32.5
for admission in school to be enlisted for
stipend in primary level
to be enlisted for
stipend in secondary
level
for actual disbursement
of the stipend
Percentage
Source TI -2010
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20. Household Income lost to bribery
9.529
7.94
2.384
4.569
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Low Income (< Tk.
72,000 per year)
Middle Income
(72000-140,000)
High Income
(140,000+)
Total
Percentage
Source TI -2010January 4, 2018 Dr. Md. Shamsul Arefin 20

21. Which Countries Are Corrupt?
• The Transparency International 2009 Corruption
Perceptions Index shows that the most honest countries
are Finland, New Zealand, Iceland, Denmark, and
Singapore.
• The most corrupt countries are Haiti, Guinea,
Myanmar, Iraq, Bangladesh, Chad, the Democratic
Republic of Congo, and Sudan.
• China, Brazil, Ghana, Senegal, Peru, Mexico, Saudi
Arabia, India, and Egypt all rank in the middle of the 163
countries ranked.
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22. The Great Exceptions
• Singapore and Hong Kong are exceptions
Both have moderately high levels of
inequality and at best modest levels of
trust. Botswana is another example of a
country with moderate corruption and high
levels of inequality.
• All three countries once had very high
levels of corruption.
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23. Transparency
Integrity
Accountability
Whistleblower protection
Aware Citizen
Preventive Measures
Enhanced Accounting
and Auditing Standards
Reducing Discretionary
Authorities
Create Competition
Effective Civil, Administrative or
Criminal Penalties
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24. January 4, 2018 Dr. Md. Shamsul Arefin 24
Whistleblower means-
An employee who refuses to
engage in and or reports illegal
or wrongful activities of his
employer or fellow employees.

25. How to tackle corruption in Bangladesh
1. Developing long-term anti-corruption strategy
2. Creating citizen’s will
3. Effective decentralisation of government agency
4. Create a sense of hate about corruption
5. More transparency and more simplification of
procedures
6. Incentives for good performance
7. Awareness and Motivational programme
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Exercise on Combating Corruption
1.

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Conclusion
Corruption is widespread in developing and transition economies, not
because their people are different from people elsewhere but because
conditions are ripe for it.
First, the motivation to earn income is extremely strong, aggravated
by poverty and by low and declining civil service salaries and the
absence of risk-spreading Mechanisms.
Second, opportunities to engage in corruption are numerous.
Monopoly rents can be very large in highly regulated economies.
The discretion of many public officials is broad in developing and
transition economies, and this systemic weakness is exacerbated by
poorly defined, ever changing, and poorly disseminated rules
and regulations.

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Conclusion
Third, accountability is typically weak. Competition are not perfect
often restricted.
The watchdog institutions that provide information on which detection
and enforcement is based—such as investigators, accountants, and the
press—are also weak.
The two parties to a bribe often both benefit, bribery can be extremely
difficult to detect. Even if detection is possible, punishments are apt to
be mild when corruption is systemic—it is hard to punish one person
severely when so many others are likely to be equally guilty.
Finally, certain country-specific factors, such as population size and
natural resource, also appear to be positively linked with the
prevalence of bribery.