Our leaders often request the citizens to reduce corruption and Transparency International has a slogan, "STOP CORRUPTION". There is a million taka question — why will someone try to reduce or stop corruption? Another question comes into my mind: to whom should we request to help mitigate corruption. Who is corrupted?
There are two methods of reducing or stopping corruption. Those are prevention and punishment of offenders.
According to different surveys, Bangladesh is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. It has Anti-corruption laws and national integrity policy. There is hardly any punishment unless the higher political authority desires to punish the offender but there is regular recognition of government officials for integrity.
I have attempted to go through the policy and regulation of other countries and attempted to suggest some sort of reformations in the policy and law to prevent corruption and identify the corrupted individuals. The best policy is to make the laws and policies transparent. The activities of different stakeholders, particularly the government, should be transparent.
Readers may note The Financial Secrecy Index (FSI), 2020 of Global Justice Network to have had an idea of corruption. The FSI consists of 20 Key Financial Secrecy Indicators in four Key Indicator Categories Ownership Registration, Legal Entity Transparency, Integrity of Tax and Financial Regulation, and International Standards and Cooperation. Bangladesh has ranked 54th out of 133 nations in the Financial Secrecy Index (FSI) 2020, with a score of 72.73, based on the country's high secrecy over jurisdiction and offshore financial services. A hundred score means high secrecy and zero transparency. means high
There is an inherent relationship among the corruption, beneficial ownership of companies and money laundering. Laundering of money easy through shell companies in the form of some fake owners with different beneficial owners. These legal entities offer an attractive tool for corrupt officials and individuals to launder their proceeds. There is no study on shell companies and beneficial owners in Bangladesh.
Care has been taken to avoid discussing who is corrupt but a humble attempt has been made to elaborate how corrupt individuals hide illegally earned money and how to locate the money.
Policy makers and conscious citizens may have a look into the book.
