A new website, Ghush.site, has been launched to collect information on where and how much bribes are allegedly demanded for government services in Bangladesh.
Launched on 21 August, the platform allows people to anonymously report their experiences of being asked for bribes. In its first two days, the website received 804 reports involving a combined 136.5 million taka allegedly demanded in bribes.
The website was founded by Saif Kabeer and Shahed Sharif, two friends who said they were inspired by a similar website abroad. Their aim is to bring scattered experiences of alleged bribery onto a single platform and create an overview of which government offices and services receive the most complaints.
However, the website does not claim that the information submitted by users constitutes verified allegations or evidence.
How it works
To submit a report, users are asked to provide five pieces of information: the name of the government office, the type of service, the location, the amount allegedly demanded as a bribe and the outcome of the incident.
Users can also provide a brief description of their experience. No account is required, and the process takes less than two minutes.
The platform does not allow users to mention the name, designation or phone number of any individual.
According to the founders, the main objective is not to identify specific people but to highlight which government offices or services receive the highest number of allegations of bribery.
After a complaint is submitted, it is not published on the website immediately. They are first moderated to remove personal information. Aggressive, unclear, or policy-violating complaints are also discarded. Approved reports are then published with information on the division, office, type of service, amount allegedly demanded and the outcome.
804 reports in two days
The founders stated that 804 complaints were submitted to the site in the first two days of its launch. The total amount of money demanded as bribes in these complaints is BDT 136.5 million.
Division-wise, the highest number of complaints, 430, came from Dhaka. This was followed by 167 in Chattogram, 44 in Rajshahi, 43 in Khulna, 38 in Sylhet, 37 in Rangpur, 30 in Mymensingh, and 15 in Barishal. Eighteen per cent of the complainants stated that they had refused to pay bribes.
Reports are not proof
A key limitation of the platform is that individual submissions are not independently verified. Each published report is marked as “unverified”.
The founders state that ghush.site does not present any complaint as a true incident or as evidence against any government official or employee. It is not an investigative agency either, nor does it claim to be an alternative to the Anti-Corruption Commission. Rather, its objective is to bring people's experiences together and create an open record.
Self-funded initiative
The website is currently being run with the founders’ own funds. They said it has no formal affiliation with any NGO or organisation and has not received external funding. The website also allows voluntary donations.
Saif Kabeer, one of the founders, told Prothom Alo that they do not measure the initiative’s success simply by measuring the number of visitors.
Rather, he said, they would consider it successful if citizens could review others’ experiences before seeking government services, understand where bribes are allegedly being demanded and feel encouraged to reject unfair demands.