Administrative Corruption

(An Explanative Overview)

.

Abstract
1971, the year when Bangladesh gained its independence through a nine-month
sanguinary war against Pakistan . Bangladesh is trying to develop herself through
different development policies since its liberation, but several factors is making
obstacle in this process, Corruption is one of these. Which is considered as a
permanent or existing problem for human civilization because of its adverse impact
on the progress of humankind and all scale of development . In this paper, we
discuss about corruption and administrative corruption in Bangladesh and explain
the scenario of corruption in different sectors of administration. Why
administrative corruption occurred in Bangladesh and how it can be reduced also
described here. We also explain what’s the impact of administrative corruption on
country .

Keywords: Corruption, Administrative Corruption, Economic Growth &

Modernization.
 Table of Content
* Abstract ……………………………………………………...01
* Introduction ………………………………………………………… 03
* What’s Corruption …………………………………………………. 03
* Mediated Corruption ……………………………………………… 04
* Huntington’s View of Corruption ………………………………. ….05
* Layers of Corruption ………………………………………………...05
* Administrative Corruption ………………………………………. …06
* Administrative and Political Corruption …………………………… 07
* Why administrative corruption occurred ? ……………………….....07
* Overview of Administrative Corruption in Bangladesh …………….08
Historical Overview …………………………………. ...08
Current Situation ………………………………………09
* Different Sectors of Administrative Corruption …………………….11
* Impact of Administrative Corruption ………………………………..14
Economic Impact ………………………………………15
Is corruption increased economic growth? …………….16
* How Corruption can be reduced ? …………………………………..17
* Conclusion …………………………………………………………. 19
* Reference …………………………………………………………... 20

Introduction
When a government officials abuse his office for own private interest is defined as
corruption, which is an universal phenomenon and also not something new either.
Corruption is found almost everywhere and having no country without corruption.
It creates a negative impact on country’s socio-economic and political sphere. Like
all of other countries, Bangladesh is also affected severely by corruption which
deeply rooted characteristics in the administrative and political system which have
evolved over centuries. In case of administrative corruption, the government
official staff create corruption by taking bribe or any other opportunity from
private citizen for their own benefit. In every sectors of administration, corruption
is spreading like Octopus as a result the administration system is going to be
disturbed gradually and is failing to provide sufficient service to citizen. Most
importantly, due to severe corruption in all sectors Bangladesh is rated as the
world’s most corrupt country for five successive years from 2001 to 2005.So, we
can identify corruption as one of the main reasons for under-development.

What’s Corruption?
Corruption is a buzzword. Aristotle at first used the word Corrupt which means
showing willingness to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain. Before
explaining the Administrative Corruption, we have to define the term ‘Corruption’
itself. It is nothing new in our country rather it’s a universal phenomenon. Though
in ancient period corruption was viewed as ‘any deviance from righteousness or
from correct behavior’, but modern political scientist commonly defined it as,
‘abuse or misuse of public office for private gains’. Here ‘misuse’ means not
proper use of resources and ‘public office’ means the office which give equal
treatment in concern of all people that means public office are concern for issues
that are related with people.
According to Samuel P. Huntington “corruption is behavior of public officials
which deviates from accepted norms in order to serve private ends” (1)

Corruption must have two parts. Such as,

 Public office holders &

 Private citizens,

Here I am drawing a diagram representing an improper relationship (giving benefit

and receiving gain) between these two parts.

Improper Gain

In above diagram, we are seeing that public office holder providing ‘improper
benefit’ to private citizen in return they receive ‘improper gain’ from benefit
receiver. When such an improper relationship would build between public office
holder and private citizen, then it would be a corruption. So, corruption is the abuse
of entrusted authority for private gain.

Mediated Corruption:
It has been discussed above that improper relationship between public office holder
and private citizen is viewed as corruption. Now question is that, if one part is
absent here that means having no improper benefit or no improper gain, would it
be a corruption?

Yes it would be a corruption, we can describe it as ‘Mediated Corruption’ where

one part is absent and it is difficult to determine and prove mediated corruption in
court.
For example, we can talk about the activities of former Indian Prime Minister
Monmohan Singh, who provided improper benefit to a company by leasing state
controlled of coal mine but he took no improper gain in return of this. So, it can be
explained under the mediated corruption.

Samuel P. Huntington’s View:

Samuel P. Huntington was an American Political Scientist, who in his book
“Political Order in Changing Societies” discussed about corruption and also
explained how Modernization breed corruption. According to Huntington,
“Corruption is behavior of public officials which deviates from accepted norms in
order to serve private ends” He stated that there are three connections between
corruption and modernization.

Firstly, Modernization involves a change in the basic values of the society.

Behavior which was acceptable and legitimate according to traditional norms
becomes unacceptable and corrupt when viewed through modern eye. For
example, according to traditional codes, an official had the responsibility and
obligation to provide employment to his family members, but when such activities
are viewed from modern eye it seem to be a nepotism and hence corruption.

Secondly, Modernization also contributes to corruption by creating new source of

wealth and power. Corruption in this sense is a direct product of the rise of new
groups with new resources and their efforts to make themselves effective within
the political sphere. For example, a person who didn’t involved in politics before,
but after being a millionaire an incentive is created to join in politics, as result in
this case he use illegal means that means using money for political power. That’s
corruption.

Thirdly, Modernization encourages corruption by changing the output side of the

political system. Actually modernization involves the expansion of government
authority and the multiplication of the activities subjected to governmental
regulation. So, political centralization and increase of governmental tasks can be a
potential source of corruption, On the other hand, the multiplication of laws thus
multiples the possibilities of corruption. (1)

Layers of Corruption:
Corruption in the government involves three broad layers.

Firstly, Corruption within the broader political system, which includes the
demands of electoral politics, the extensive use of patronage in political
appointments, and the existence use of “pork barrel” funds.

Secondly, Corruption within the public sector, which is focused on three major
problems: spotty performance of mechanisms for identifying and sanctioning
employees engaged in corrupt and illicit behavior, considerations of pay and
employment, and government procurement.

Thirdly, Corruption within specific agencies, which involves grand corruption

(such as widespread syndicates and millions of pesos) and pretty corruption (such
as smaller amounts of money including grease money to facilitate the delivery of
goods and services)

Administrative Corruption
Administrative corruption normally indicates the corruption occurred in
administrative hierarchy. There’s one concept is related and that is administration
can be of both- governmental and non-governmental. It means the corruption
within bureaucracy. It is occurred by the line, staff and others related with
bureaucracy. It may be related with non-government organization too. If the
concerned people add any non-government organization for their own interest,
there’s occurred an administrative corruption. Administrative corruption as
function indicates the functions through which the corruption occurs. Most of the
time, administrative corruption is practiced by bribery. The officials take money or
other things from the client on the contrary of doing anything. The level of
corruption varies depending on how influential a position the particular civil
servant holds.(2)

So it makes us clear that Administrative corruption is "Misuse of public and

governmental resources by public service agencies for own interest". In the
administrative system; there are a codified set of administrative rules which
determine the framework of allowed activities. In this situation any action that was
in contrary with laws and regulations, and there is a motivation for personal
benefit, will be considered administrative corruption.

Some examples of corruption are: bribery, extortion, influence-peddling, nepotism,

fraud, speed money, and embezzlement.

Political Corruption & Administrative Corruption

Political Corruption and Administrative Corruption are two distinct idea now here
we will compare the political and administrative corruption.

1. Political corruption takes place at the highest level of political authority where
Administrative corruption indicates the corruption in the administrative hierarchy.

2. Politicians and political decision-makers (heads of state, ministers and top

officials), who are entitled to formulate, establish and implement the laws in the
name of the people create political corruption. In that way, Administrative
corruption occurred by the line, staff and others related with bureaucracy.

3. Political corruption is occurred when public policy and project implementation

money came to political leader ,they seize the money for their own.
Administrative corruption is practiced by bribery. The officials take money or
other things from the client on the contrary of doing anything.

Why Administrative Corruption Occurred?

Corruption has occurred for various reasons. One scholar namely De Graff
nominated six kinds of causes in the theoretical anti-corruption literature together
with the causal chains that they indicate (3)

 Public choice theory – official makes a rational choice to act corruptly

 Bad apple theories – official with “bad” character necessarily acts corruptly
 Organizational culture theories – group culture and aspects of the workplace
encourage the official to act corruptly
 Clashing moral values – the official’s societal or personal values and norms
permit corruption
  The ethos of public administration theories – pressure on the official to
perform override integrity considerations and allow corruption
 Correlation theories – no casual theory only correlations.

Overview of Administrative Corruption in Bangladesh

Bangladesh Administration is burdensome and ineffective due to corruption. The
process of development of administration is hampered for the corruption. We can
explain the whole administrative corruption of Bangladesh from two
perspectives,,,

Historical overview
Current situation

Historical Overview of Administrative corruption in Bangladesh :

From the very beginning of Bangladesh emergence , Corruption is the buzzword in

the administrative sector. In the first civil regime of sheikh Mujib , Politics of
patronage & nepotism in administration was the common matter. Here the politics
of patronage means including the own party member in the administration without
qualifications. Sheikh Mujib believed that the party system could not develop
without a network of patronage(4).That’s why Sheikh Mujibur Rahman included
his party member in the administration which created corruption.

After the collapse of first civil regime , the first military ruler , Zia tried to covert
corruption by implementing different development policies. But corruption was
occurred at that time due to engagement of the military in every sector of
administration and their autocratic character.

Under the second military rule of General Ershad, Corruption prevailed in each &
every sector of national life & the forms of corruption included petty, project &
programmatic corruption though he declared Jihad against corruption because of
including military in every aspects of administration. Introducing Upazilla system
by Ershad contributed immediately to the spread of corruption to the grassroots &
adversely affected local area.

After the collapse of military rule , the reintroduction of democracy in 1991 didn’t
create any change in terms of corruption . We see that evidence when Bangladesh
became the highest corrupted country in the time of 2001-2005 in a row.

Current situation of Administrative corruption in Bangladesh :

Corruption is continuing such like a continuing process in Bangladesh. According

to the World Economic Forum(WEF), Global Competitiveness Index, inefficient
government bureaucracy has always been high up on the list of obstacles for doing
business in the country, which can encourage the use of bribery to speed up or
“grease” administrative processes. According to Transparency International’s
Global Corruption Barometer 2011, 72% of the surveyed citizens admit having
paid a bribe in the previous year, with the police, the judiciary the registry and
permit service and the land services being the top recipients. The household survey
conducted by Transparency International Bangladesh in 2010 shows that the
average amount of annual per household bribe is 3,1846 taka (about USD40),
compared to 1,818 taka ($22) in 2007. The total loss due to petty corruption in the
13 selected service delivery sector was estimated as 1.4% of GDP or 8.4% of
annual national budget. The report showed higher loss in terms of disposable
income for the lowest income category (4.11%) compared to higher income
households (2.5%). The report also demonstrates that bribery is more common in
rural areas and affects the poorest sections of society the most. More importantly
the report revealed that highest proportions of respondents suffered from one or
other form of corruption in the key institutions of accountability and rule of law,
e.g., justice sector (88 %) and law enforcement agencies, particularly police (76%).
Business people perceive bribery to be a major problem in Bangladesh as well. The
World Bank/IFC Enterprise Survey 2007 indicates that more than 85% of the
respondents claimed it was expected to make gifts to civil servants to “get things
done” or “grease the wheel”, and two thirds report having experienced at least one
demand for a bribe in that year.

Here is a graph presenting the Bangladesh Corruption Index from 2006 to 2016,
Now one may ask the question as to why such large-scale administrative
corruption exists. The reasons for such corruption can be summed up (5).

Firstly, civil servants involved in corrupt practices in most cases do not lose their
jobs. Very rarely they are dismissed from service on charges pertaining to
corruption. Still more rarely they are sent to prison for misusing public funds. They
have never been compelled to return to the state their ill-gotten wealth.

Secondly, people have a tendency not only to tolerate corruption but to show
admiration to those civil servants who make a fortune through dubious means. The
underlying assumption is that it does not matter how one has acquired wealth as
long as he has done so.

Thirdly, it is easier for a citizen to get quick service because he has already paid
the civil servant rather than wait for his turn.

Fourthly, there is now social acceptance of corruption by public officials.

Fifthly, barring occasional public procurements, the representatives of the people,

i.e. politicians in power, are unwilling to take effective measures to curb corrupt
practices in public dealings.
Different Sectors
Bangladesh society is a highly complex network involving reciprocal favors
and obligations which creates corruption. There is many sectors of administration
which face corruption is Tax Commission, Judiciary , Police , Local Government ,
Customs , Passport Office ,Election Commission , Road & Transport authority
,Public Service Commission(PSC), Water & resource ,Health sector, Immigrant
offices and Anti-corruption offices itself. .Here is a graph showing how the
households are affected by the corruption of different administrative sectors.

Now we will discuss main administrative corruption ,,,,,

Service Delivery Administration:

Bangladesh’s public administration lacks adequate resources and is considerably
underperforming due to widespread corruption, politicization of the bureaucracy
and dominant patronage networks. Transparency International’s Global Corruption
Barometer 2011 reports that 74% of respondents consider the Bangladeshi public
administration to be corrupt or extremely corrupt. The regulatory framework for
protecting the public administration against corruption, conflict of interests and
nepotism is solid, except for the absence of regulations regarding post-employment
of civil servants. In practice however, the public administration is deeply
influenced by political considerations at all levels of operation and recruitment .
Intimidation, bribery and extortion are common in citizens’ interaction with state
services and the poor are the most vulnerable because of their dependence on basic
services such as education and health (Annual Report 2011, Transparency
International, p-27). The politicization of the administration combined with the
absence of appropriate rules regarding service delivery, low salaries and staff
morale has resulted in corruption taking root in the public service sector.

Police sector :
Low salaries and poor training make the police susceptible to bribery as well. The
force is characterized by political patronage and a culture of impunity.
International businesses have said that the Bangladeshi police force is one of the
world's least reliable.

In 2002, Transparency International Bangladesh revealed that Bangladesh Police is

one of the most corrupt public institutions in Bangladesh. In 2013, they again
published the same assessment. Asian Human Rights Commission revealed that
people of Bangladesh pay more to police than to the government. Police force
benefits from political patronage and culture of impunity. Police is involved in
blackmailing, extortion, torture ,rape, and killing.

Judiciary System :
An effective judiciary plays a key role in the overall integrity system of a country
and judicial corruption undermines the rule-of-law. In Bangladesh, half of the
citizens think the judiciary is corrupt and two thirds of the respondents report
having paid a bribe to this institution in the last 12 months. These statistics are
reflected in the findings of a household survey conducted by Transparency
International Bangladesh in 2010 which found the judiciary to be the most corrupt
sector of the state with 88% of the respondents admitting having been subjected to
corruption in 2010. According to this survey, the level of corruption has increased
between 2007and 2010. Separation of powers and judicial independence is
guaranteed by a law passed in 2009, but in practice the Bangladeshi judicial system
is still subject to political interference . Most studies on the country report that the
judiciary is not independent: the WEF’s Global Competitiveness Report 2012-
2013, for example, ranks Bangladesh 104th of 144 with regards to judicial
independence. The judiciary is influenced by the executive power at all levels:
recruitment and appointments, administration and decision-making .

Tax Administration
Companies face a high risk of corruption in the Bangladeshi tax administration.
Bangladesh is ranked as the country where irregular payments in connection with
tax payments is most common. Over forty percent of firms expect to give gifts in
meetings with tax officials. A weak administrative infrastructure in the National
Board of Revenue (NBR) makes for collusion and a discretionary space for
granting benefits to targeted groups of taxpayers in both tax policy and
administration. It is common for businesses to negotiate their tax liabilities with the
tax administration, whereby both parties enter into implicit agreements which
involves regular informal payments. This informal process is especially prevalent
for small businesses due to their regular interaction with the tax collectors.
Accounting and audit firms are passively involved as they nominally verify tax
declarations. Businesses spend 302 hours per year on preparing, filing and paying
taxes

Health Sector
Corruption is pervasive throughout the health sector. It is present in medical
colleges, regional and sub-regional clinics and public hospitals, offices of the civil
surgeon and population planning delivery offices. Experts argue that the health
sector is particularly vulnerable to corruption because of the high demand and the
nature of the service, the diversity of services offered and the scale and cost of
procurement. Taryn Vian, cited by Knox in a study conducted for the University of
Ulster, notes that corruption in the health sector is a reflection of general
governance problems in Bangladesh’s public sector. For example, Transparency
International Bangladesh conducted a study on the levels of corruption in a
hospital in Dhaka and found that corruption and bribery are present at most levels
of operation. Hospitals generally lack resources and recruitments are influenced by
bribery, corruption and patronage networks. One third of surveyed patients report
having had to pay a bribe to a broker, who are middlemen in charge of making
appointments with the doctors, assisting with the admission of patients and the
attribution beds.

Impact of Administrative Corruption in Bangladesh

Among all the issues affected Bangladesh, corruption is the most talked and
contentious issue of them because the impact of corruption on development is
often disastrous. Corruption is considered as one of the greatest obstacles to any
countries growth & development. Corruption hinders proper allocation of
resources, undermining the legitimacy of the government and weakening their
structures as well as the performance, reducing productivity, worsening poverty,
creating social unrest. In every country poor people are the worst victim and the
rich & powerful people are most beneficiary of corruption. In Bangladesh most
corrupted administration are police, local government, land administration, health
sector, tax administration, revenue department, transport, energy & forestry. In
Bangladesh, the impact of administrative corruption can be explained broadly
through political, economic , social and environmental impact. Among them we
are explaining here the economical impact of corruption.

Economic Impact

Economic impact:
The economic effects of corruption are generally very difficult to quantify due to
the complex nature of corruption and its measurement but not impossible at all.
Corruption has a negative, deleterious and divesting influence on investment and
economic growth. Corruption leads to the depletion of national wealth. Large scale
corruption hurts the economy and impoverishes entire population. In Bangladesh
here approximately 40% of population lives less than a bellow poverty line.
Corruption is keeping the Bangladesh economy from improving. Corruption
creates underground economy; a recent Transparency International research shows
that corruption costs almost 2% of national economy of Bangladesh. Corruption
has impact on lowering investment, both foreign and domestic. It does so because
potential investors perceive it as an unwarranted and pernicious tax. It raises the
cost of investing without providing any guarantee of producing the required
results. Corruption therefore increases the uncertainty and risk attached to
investment as well as reducing the incentive for entrepreneurs.

We know about the Hall-Mark group of Bangladesh, which recently frauds

approximately Tk.2.668 cores from Sonali Bank, Ruposhi Bangla Branch, They
obtained this amount of loan by submitting fake documents and corruption. These
types of fraudulent affect both domestic and foreign investment because this
hampers fair business environment. Corruption lowering investment as a
consequences it reduces the rate of production and growth.

Corruption can also influence the willingness of the donor community to provide
aid and development assistance. High levels of corruption can cause donors to
suspend, reduce or withdraw development assistance. For current example, we
know that world bank withdraw their promised $1.2 billion credit by claiming that
a high level corruption conspiracy among Bangladeshi government officials
regarding Padma Bridge construction.

Is Corruption increased economic growth?

Corruption has existed in almost all human societies throughout the history of
mankind. In other words, there is no country in the world that has not experienced
administrative corruption but question is that is corruption increased economic
growth? In this case we can explain the view of N. H. Leff, an American
behavioral scientist who viewed administrative corruption differently. He stated
that administrative corruption resulted in economic growth in two important and
controversial areas.

Firstly, administrative corruption can be used to correct and improve relationships

between private sector and public authorities and add to the abilities of
contribution of these two groups in the formation and materialization of a public
policy.

Secondly, administrative corruption can help the public and social to convert into
supporters of plans of wealth and welfare creation being designed by private
sector. It can create opportunities in which governmental plans and regulations
may not have negative impacts on useful activities of private sector. (6)

How it can be reduced?

Corruption hinders national progress ,but there is no single bullet for
fighting corruption. Many countries have made significant progress in
curbing corruption. Transparency International recently published a
article in their website presenting five ways that citizen and government
can make progress in the fight against corruption. (7)
1. End Impunity:
Effective law enforcement is essential to ensure the corrupt are punished
and break the cycle of impunity or freedom from punishment or loss.
Successful enforcement approaches are supported by a strong legal
framework, law enforcement branches and an independent and effective
court system. Civil society can support the process with initiatives such
as Transparency International’s Unmask the Corrupt campaign.
2. Reform Public Administration & Finance Management :
Reforms focusing on improving financial management and
strengthening the role of auditing agencies have in many countries
achieved greater impact than public sector reforms on curbing
corruption. One such reform is the disclosure of budget information,
which prevents waste and misappropriation of resources.
3. Promote Transparency and Access to Information :
Corruption can be reduced by ensuring government openness, freedom
of the press, transparency and easy access to information. Access to
information increase the responsiveness of government bodies, while
simultaneously having a positive effect on the levels of public
participation in a county.
4. Empower Citizens:
Strengthening citizens demand for anti-corruption and empowering them
to hold government accountable is a sustainable approach that helps to
build mutual trust between citizens and government. Accountability and
transparency should be ensured by public official to the general people
and people should be provided with right and power to criticize the
illegal activities of public official.
5. Close International Loopholes
Without access to the international financial system, corrupt public
officials throughout the world would not be able to launder and hide the
proceeds of looted state assets. Major financial centres urgently need to
put in place ways to stop their banks and co-operating offshore financial
centres from absorbing illicit flows of money.
Except above all ways, there can be followed also some strategies like,
Inaugurating laws to dismiss from offices if found any evidence to
be involved in corruption
Speed up the work process in government institutions.
Providing better salary for the government officials.
 Increasing direct conduct between government officials and
private citizens.
Ensuring accountability and transparency of public officials.
All of commercial banks should be guided strongly by Bangladesh
Bank. (8)

Conclusion
Corruption is any misuse of governmental power for personal benefits, is a
phenomenon prevailing in administrative and political systems of different
countries. Corruption creates a negative impact on Bangladesh’s economic
advancement - political development and administrative success. Because of
corruption , people are losing ethics & morality . As a result ,the whole system is
facing disturbance ,thus the system is failed to provide efficient services .In this
case ,Government should be more concerned to minimize the corruption. But it is
too much difficult for government to handle it solely , We all should come with a
great zeal to solve this problem. Then through the minimization of the rate of
corruption , our system would gradually be feasible in different circumstance thus
specially country’s administration would be corruption free.

Reference
1. Huntington, S.P., 1968. Political Order in Changing Societies. Yale
University Press. P-59-61
2. Khan. M.M. 1998. Administrative Reform in Bangladesh. New Delhi :South
Asian Publishers. P-13
3. De Graaf. G., 2007. Causes of corruption: towards a contextual theory of
corruption. Public Administration Quarterly, pp.46
4. Maniruzzaman, T., 1980. The Bangladesh revolution and its aftermath (pp.
214). Dhaka: Bangladesh books international.
5. Khan, M.M. (1998).Administrative Reform in Bangladesh. New Delhi:South
Asian Publishers.p-17
6. Leff, N.H., 1964. Economic development through bureaucratic corruption.
American Behavioral Scientist 8(3), pp.8-14.
7. Transparency International, 10 March 2016, http://www.transparency.org/
8. Salahuddin, M. H.5th April 2012, Fighting Corruption and Effective
Measures, The Daily Star, Editorial.