2008 Assessment

This peer-reviewed country report includes:

Integrity Indicators Scorecard: Scores, scoring criteria, commentary, references, and peer review perspectives for more than 300 Integrity Indicators.

Reporter's Notebook: An on-the-ground look at corruption and integrity from a leading local journalist.

Corruption Timeline: Ten years of political context to today's corruption and integrity issues.

Country Facts: Statistical context for each country.

In the past year, citizens of Bangladesh protested the most recent elections, forcing the results to be dismissed and prolonging the role of the country's caretaker government until December 2008. Citizen engagement and voter participationare expected to be high in December, yet the limited effectiveness of the electoral commission could again detract from the legitimacy of a national election. The state of emergency only increased government pressure on media outlets who are "regularly being monitored, threatened and intimidated by the personnel of armed forces and various intelligence agencies." All branches of government remain highly politicized, including the judiciary and the civil service. The Chief Justice spoke publicly on the corruption of his sector, estimating it would take 20 years to clean-up the judicial branch. In practice, the Ombudsman only deals with tax concerns, but the establishment of a Truth and Accountability Commission allows citizens to report abuses of police power and return illegal gifts in order to avoid prosecution.