Although eight months have passed since BNP formed the government, I have yet to see any strong measures to combat corruption. Bangladesh first ranked at the top of the corruption rankings in an index published in 2001, based on data from the final period of the Awami League government. After the BNP–Jamaat alliance came to power that year, Bangladesh continued to hold the same position from 2002 to 2005. This standing was reflected in the country rankings of Transparency International (TI), the Berlin-based anti-corruption research organisation.
In 2007, when a military-backed caretaker government took power, its strong crackdown on corruption created a stir both at home and abroad. During the caretaker government’s tenure in 2007–08, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) played a highly effective role, temporarily allowing Bangladesh to escape the ignominious distinction of being the world champion in corruption for five consecutive years.
During Sheikh Hasina’s rule from 2009 to 2024, a culture of bank looting, capital plunder, and capital flight took hold in Bangladesh. She rendered the Anti-Corruption Commission completely ineffective
Sadly, after Sheikh Hasina’s government came to power in 2009, deliberate steps were taken to render the Anti-Corruption Commission ineffective, once again weakening the government’s efforts to fight corruption.
After the fall of the authoritarian Hasina government in the mass uprising of 2024, the interim government that took charge formed several reform commissions.
The task of recommending reforms to combat corruption was assigned to a committee led by Dr. Iftekharuzzaman. Since Dr. Iftekharuzzaman had demonstrated his effectiveness over many years as executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), we were greatly reassured that the recommendations of his committee would prove highly effective and bold.
However, I was somewhat disappointed with its recommendations. In my view, the committee failed to put forward sufficiently bold proposals to address the problem. It seemed that the committee had not devoted enough time to an in-depth analysis of the problem before formulating its recommendations. Nevertheless, even though the interim government took no initiative to implement those recommendations, I had hoped that the BNP government would move forward with their implementation in a sincere and committed manner.
Corruption is primarily responsible for Bangladesh’s failure to achieve comparable levels of economic development. Bangladesh began its journey as an independent nation after winning the Liberation War in 1971, while Vietnam embarked on its path toward economic development in 1975, after defeating the United States in an extremely bloody war.
In 1974, Vietnam’s per capita GDP was just $65. According to IMF estimates, Vietnam’s per capita nominal GDP reached $4,806 in 2025, a feat being described as a “miracle.” In Bangladesh, the figure stands at $2,635.
In 2024, only 2 per cent of Vietnam’s population lived below the poverty line, compared with 21 per cent of Bangladesh’s population.
The persistence of corruption in Bangladesh is the biggest factor behind the country’s relative economic backwardness and distressing levels of poverty. In 2025, Bangladesh was again identified as the second-most corrupt country in South Asia, after Afghanistan.
During Sheikh Hasina’s rule from 2009 to 2024, a culture of bank looting, capital plunder, and capital flight took hold in Bangladesh. She rendered the Anti-Corruption Commission completely ineffective. Until she was ousted, her 15-and-a-half years of authoritarian rule gave Hasina the opportunity to engage in rampant plunder without restraint.
During Hasina’s tenure, billions and billions of taka were embezzled by inflating the estimated costs of a series of unnecessary or marginally necessary mega-projects to three or four times their actual costs. As a result, the costs of many projects reached what were described as the “highest in the world.” Through “data doctoring,” the Hasina government fabricated a narrative of commendable growth in Bangladesh’s per capita GDP while looting and ravaging the country, with the vast majority of the stolen money being siphoned abroad.
At the heart of this capital plunder were the Sheikh and Hasina families, along with their relatives and close associates. Others included predatory business oligarchs such as S Alam, Salman F Rahman, and Nazrul Islam Mazumder of Nassa Group, as well as thousands of corrupt politicians and government officials.
Following Sheikh Hasina’s fall, a white paper published by the interim government claimed that a total of $234 billion had been looted from Bangladesh and siphoned abroad during her authoritarian rule, spanning the period from 2009 to 5 August 2024.
Over the past two years since Hasina’s ouster, economists have become convinced that even if she had not lost power after being branded an authoritarian ruler, she would still have been unable to save the country’s economy from the inevitable consequences of an “economic meltdown.”
Now, if we focus solely on the scale and severity of corruption under Hasina, the question inevitably arises: What concrete steps has BNP taken and implemented over the past eight months to rid society of corruption?
The general public continues to be plagued by rampant corruption in their daily lives. With BNP leaders and activists engaging in widespread extortion after replacing Awami League, people are once again struggling to cope. Corruption remains just as pervasive as before in every area involving land-related matters. Institutional corruption in the customs, VAT, and income tax departments has not been dented at all. Complaints of corruption at every step are still heard at BRTA offices.
As before, people must pay bribes to obtain services at virtually any government office. The institutionalised system of bribery and corruption in the judiciary remains unchanged. I have not seen any reports in the newspapers indicating that action has been taken over allegations of corruption and irregularities against members of parliament or ministers. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is still not active in any meaningful sense. Reforms concerning the ACC have stalled.
Yet corruption is the country’s Number One problem. Therefore, failing to make the fight against corruption a top priority is undoubtedly a major mistake on the part of BNP.
* Dr. Moinul Islam is an economist and a retired professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Chittagong.
* The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author.