Up to 40pc of ADP funds embezzled in 15 yrs

Around 23.33 per cent to 40 per cent of government money allocated under the Annual Development Programme (ADP) in the last 15 years has been embezzled through various forms of corruption, according to a draft report of the White Paper committee on the state of Bangladesh's economy.

The report revealed that the government spent around $60 billion to implement the ADP during the period, while $14 billion to $25 billion has been siphoned off through irregularities like political extortion, bribery, and inflated budgets. This amounts to Tk 1.61 trillion to Tk 2.80 trillion in domestic currency terms, revealed the report.

The 12-member committee headed by Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, a distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), has finalised the report of the white paper which will be submitted to Chief Adviser Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus today. The committee will present further details of the report at a press briefing on Monday.

A member of the committee said 27 types of financial corruption have been documented across various sectors.

Among these, the banking and the energy sectors were identified as the most corruption-prone. Additionally, there was significant corruption in the implementation of projects in the information and technology sector.

The report also highlighted that land prices in project areas are often artificially inflated through speculative buying and selling prior to project approval. In many cases, contractors are selected even before the projects receive formal approval.

To secure these contracts, contractors are often required to pay bribes to ruling party leaders or bureaucrats in exchange for their support.

Committee members revealed that a significant portion of the money obtained through corruption has been funneled abroad. They estimate that, on average, a staggering total of $14 billion has been illicitly transferred out of the country each year over the past 15 years.

However, due to the limited three-month time frame for their investigation, the committee could not determine the full extent of the illicit outflows, one member noted.

The report will have 22 chapters, covering a wide range of topics, including their findings on GDP growth, inflation, external balance, banking sector situation, power and energy situation, government's debt, quality of statistics, trade, revenue, expenditure, mega projects, business environment, poverty and equality, capital market, education, health, women and climate issues.

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