Local govt bodies bribe ministry officials to get allocation: TIB
Local govt bodies bribe ministry officials to get allocation: TIB
Local government institutions pay bribes up to 10 percent of an allocated fund to ministry officials to get projects and special allocations, a TIB study finds.
Besides, they give bribes and gifts to audit officials in exchange for writing “proper audit reports”, said the study released yesterday by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB).
“For example, through mutual understanding of the government agency and the local government institution, union parishads pay Tk 5,000 to Tk 7,000 to the auditors for preparing the report,” it added.
According to the findings, the amount is between Tk 40,000 and Tk 80,000 in the case of the municipalities.
TIB researchers Farhana Rahman and Rabiul Islam presented the report titled -- “Local government sector: challenges of good governance and ways out” at a discussion at the city’s Brac Centre Inn.
“In any sort of job, the central government has a full control over the local government institutions,” said Rabiul.
Forty percent posts in the municipalities and 20 percent posts in district councils remain vacant, while releasing of the allocated fund also gets delayed, he said.
All these together make the local government institutions weak and ineffective, Rabiul said.