New Delhi:
Despite lofty promises by governments in South Asia to tackle corruption, graft is on the rise, threatening economic growth and efforts to lift millions of people out of poverty, said Transparency International (TI) in its first study in the region.
The report, which analysed Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka - found political interference is making anti-graft agencies ineffective and that there is little protection for whistleblowers. The public often doesn't have access to key information to hold authorities to book, it added.
"While hardly an official speech delivered across the region fails to mention corruption, it is still on the rise in South Asia. All six score under 40 out of 100 on the Corruption Perceptions Index, a sign of rampant public sector corruption," said the report "Fighting Corruption in South Asia: Building accountability".
"This corruption threatens to jeopardise fragile political and economic advances made in the region."
Despite economic growth averaging 6 percent annually over the past 20 years, almost one-third of the region's 1.6 billion people still live on less than $1.25 a day, said TI, adding that graft in public bodies which provide basic services to the poor meant that such growth was only being enjoyed by a few.
"How does a region with such strong economic growth still have such high levels of poverty? The answer is corruption. It allows the few to profit without answering for their actions," TI's Asia-Pacific Director Srirak Plipat said in a statement.
According to Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer 2013, citizens in South Asia see public sector graft as a serious problem and two-thirds in the region think corruption had risen in their country in the past two years.
Only 20 percent of people in the region now feel that their government's anti-graft actions are effective, down from 39 per cent in 2011.
LITTLE PROTECTIONS
The report by the Berlin-headquartered organisation said while Right to Information (RTI) laws are in place in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Maldives and a new law is under discussion in Pakistan, the right to information is "non-existent" in Sri Lanka.
"Even where it is in place, however, public agencies do not respond to citizen requests for information effectively and systematically," said the report.
"In Bangladesh, for example, despite having a strong RTI law, a survey found that 29 per cent of citizens reported facing harassment and eight per cent reported having to pay additional money when seeking information from public authorities."
Many citizens, it said, were also not aware of the law due to a lack of commitment on the part of the government to promote it.
The report said only Bangladesh and India had passed laws to protect whistleblowers, but that even India's newly enacted law is weak as it does not apply to the private sector.
TI said the region's vital anti-graft watchdogs need sharper teeth, adding that they are currently "unable to keep a check on government abuse".
Anti-corruption agencies in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka and the judiciary in Bangladesh, have all been accused of selecting cases for political motives, it said.
In Sri Lanka, for example, two investigations into suspect procurement deals pending against the former inspector general of police were being suppressed "due to undue influence exerted through powerful persons in the ruling regime", said the report.
"Thus the region is characterised by a vicious cycle in which a highly elitist and unaccountable political culture remains largely unchallenged because the very actors who can bring those in power to task are being systematically silenced."
When they retain independence, anti-graft bodies can bring corruption to light and the corrupt to justice, TI said, citing the example of Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau which in 2007 exposed the Double Shah Scam which helped 40,000 fraud victims recover $23 million.
"Governments will find transparency is the best investment they will ever make. Ordinary people can ensure their communities are served by governments, whistleblowers can save billions by exposing fraud," said TI's Plipat.
© Thomson Reuters 2014