Government servant conduct rules: Why provisions that encourage corruption

There is a lot to worry about the public administration ministry's move to relax a provision that stipulates the submission of annual wealth statements by public servants. The draft law has discarded the provision of submission of wealth statements every five years by public servants. This move would surely decrease accountability and encourage corruption among the 1.5 million government employees. This draft law is also in conflict with the government’s zero tolerance policy against corruption.

The Daily Star reported  the draft amendment to the Government Servant (Conduct) Rules 1979 has been vetted by the law ministry and will now be sent to parliamentary committee. According to the amendment, ‘if needed’, the authorities can collect the employees' wealth statements from their annual tax returns to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) instead of getting it straight from the employees.

As per the law, it is mandatory for the government employees to declare movable and immovable assets of their own and family members before joining the service. They are also required to submit the details of the increase and decrease in their wealth to the government through their respective authorities every five years.

This practice is necessary for the sake of integrity and accountability. At first, it was mandatory to submit the wealth details every year but the time was extended to five years later. But the reality is none attach any importance to submitting the details of the increase and decrease in their wealth after joining the job.

Bangladesh slipped two notches in the corruption index of 2023 by Berlin-based Transparency International. Increase in corruption in government sectors is identified by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) as one of the main reasons behind Bangladesh’s slip in the corruption index. The corruption is particularly rampant in public procurement, project signing and project implementation.

While the wealth of the government employees was supposed to be brought under more scrutiny under the current circumstances, the authorities are doing the opposite by relaxing the law.

While money laundering is the most worrisome issue in Bangladesh’s economy, the ministry kept unchanged the provision regarding acquiring or transferring immovable property abroad by the government employees or their family members. As per the law, they cannot acquire or transfer immovable property abroad without permission from the government.

The question is how justified it is to acquire wealth or do business abroad taking permission from the government? Wouldn’t such provision encourage money laundering? Isn't this law discriminatory? Former NBR chairman Bodiur Rahman rightly said that such provision creates opportunity for money laundering and increases chaos in the administration.

It is necessary to amend the Government Servant (Conduct) Rules, but it cannot be done in a way that might encourage corruption. Let’s prove zero tolerance against corruption by deeds, not by words.