How many times do they have to win before they retire the trophy?Dhaka, 19 Oct. (AKI/DAWN) - Bangladesh has topped a list of countries where corruption is perceived to be most prevalent for the fifth consecutive year. Chad, a central African country, shares the title with Bangladesh on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2005 compiled yearly by the Berlin-based Transparency International (TI). Bangladesh and Chad both scored 1.7 on a scale of 10, while the least corrupt country, Iceland, scored 9.7. Bangladesh first topped the index in 2001, and has held on to the position ever since.
| "We're number one, we're number one..." |
Professor Muzaffer Ahmad, a trustee of the Bangladesh chapter of Transparency International, said the prime minister, Khaleda Zia, and the leader of the opposition in parliament, Sheikh Hasina, can set an example in reversing the perception of pervasive corruption by making public their asset and liability statements. "Neither Sheikh Hasina nor Khaleda Zia have made the asset and liability statements of the members of their government public," he said. "The bureaucracy and business people, along with corrupt political cliques, are responsible for corruption," Muzaffer said. "But the people of the country suffer the most because of it."