Five non-governmental organisations have admitted to the World Bank that they made corrupt payments to Bangladesh government officials to receive contracts under a bank-funded project.

The admissions are contained in a report of an investigation which the World Bank’s Integrity Vice President conducted into the disbursement to hundreds of NGOs of part of a $53.3 million loan that the bank had given the Bangladesh government to further post-literacy continuing education.

Four of the five NGOs told World Bank investigators that to get a contract under the project, which lasted between 2001 and 2007, they each had to pay at least Tk 100,000 in bribes to government officials, money that was channelled to the officials through intermediaries.

Some NGOs had to pay as much as Tk 600,000 in bribes to obtain a contract, the investigators were told.

The World Bank investigation report also found that almost half of 470 NGOs which government officials had selected to receive a contract ‘were found to be non-compliant with the qualification criteria’ and that at last 61 of the NGOs had falsified their experience certificates.

Iftekhar Zaman, executive director of Transparency International, told New Age, ‘This is a clear testimony to the concern that corruption has become deep and wide. While it cannot be concluded that everyone in the government and the non-government sector is corrupt, it certainly indicates that the win-win game of corrupt transactions is ominously eroding the moral and ethical fabric of society.’

‘This being in the education sector is tantamount to stealing both the present and future of the country,’ he added.

The investigation report has been made public as part of the new 2011 disclosure policy of the Integrity Vice President, the part of the bank which investigates corruption and fraud allegations concerning the use of the bank’s money.

The report does not publish the names of government officials alleged to have taken the money. The names of NGOs barred from bidding for World Bank contracts for a period of three or four years, some of them because of their fraud in this project, however, can be found separately in a database on the World Bank web site.

At least three of the organisations in the database — Samajik Sangha in Dhaka, Development Action Centre in Chuadanga and Bittohin Chasi Somaj Kalyan Sangstha in Pabna — were sanctioned because of fraud on this project.

The report on the World Bank project to fund post-literacy continuing education is the only investigation involving a Bangladesh project that has so far been published by the World Bank.

According to the investigation report, one NGO representative said, ‘All NGOs had to make payments to receive contracts under the project unless the NGO was well connected politically to senior GOB officials.’

A representative of another NGO, not amongst the five who admitted to paying bribes and referred to as F in the report, told the investigators, ‘No NGO, no matter how experienced, could win a contract without a minimum payment of BDT 100,000.’

The person is also quoted as saying that he had been told that ‘officials had to “make money” before contracts would be awarded.’

A representative of another NGO, referred to only as G in the report, told investigators that he knew of one NGO that had paid ‘a total of approximately Tk 2,00,000’ to get a contract while another paid about Tk 6,00,000.

The report said that ‘these two NGOs had [reportedly] made the payments to a number of GOB officials.’

The investigators also found that 202 of the 470 NGOs — 43 per cent of the total — that had been initially selected to participate in the final phases of the project did not satisfy the minimum selection criteria for receiving a contract.

The criteria included that the NGO had to have established premises, two years of experience in working on non-formal education and have trained managerial and technical staff in the area, have a constitution and managing body, and have experience in organising programmes for women and children.

The investigation also found out that at least 61 NGOs had submitted fraudulent experience certificates in their bid submissions.

‘These 61 NGO’s submitted… experience certificates purportedly issued by five established Bangladesh NGOs stating that they had performed work for one of more of [them],’ the report stated.

‘Collectively, the five established NGOs informed [the investigators] that the certificates submitted by at least 61 of the NGOs bidding for contracts under the project has been falsified and that these 61 NGOs had never done [non formal education] work for them,’ it went on to state.

The report states that the office of the Integrity Vice president requested each of the 25 NGOs which went on to receive a contract from the government to show cause why the organisation should not be sanctioned.

Six NGOs replied to the show cause notice by admitting that they had submitted falsified NFE experience certificates. Seven other NGOs replied by denying the stated findings but the World Bank ‘found their explanations and denials inconsistent with the available evidence.’

The remaining 12 NGOs never responded to the show cause notices.

In January, New Age disclosed that Bangladesh topped the list of countries with the highest number of organisations or individuals that had been sanctioned by the World Bank in the last three years.

In October 2011, the World Bank announced that it would not start disbursing the $1.2 million loan it had agreed earlier that year to give the Bangladesh government to fund the construction of the Padma bridge because of concerns about corruption and fraud.

Report on which this article was based

For immediate release

WAN-IFRA Appoints Representative in Bangladesh

To take WAN-IFRA services closer to publishers in the country

The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) has appointed Drik Picture Library Ltd., the leading picture and news agency of Bangladesh, as its representative in the country, in a move to bring WAN-IFRA’s services closer to local publishers.

As each country in the Indian sub-continent displays unique characteristics and challenges, the representation will help to address the specific needs of Bangladesh’s publishers and will include local media events and training.

“‘We are very happy to appoint Drik Picture Library as our representative in Bangladesh,” said Magdoom Mohamed, Managing Director of WAN-IFRA South Asia. “Our relations with Dr. Shahidul Alam, Managing Director of Drik Picture Library, goes back to more than 8 years and we share some common ideas of what needs to be done to help improve the media industry in Bangladesh. We are confident that this relation will go a long way, and, with Drik’s respected position in the country, it will enable seamless rendering of all WAN-IFRA services to the publishers in the country.”

Dr. Shahidul Alam said: “Drik has found a natural partner in WAN-IFRA, as both are trade organizations with a human right’s mandate. The Newspapers in Education programme is also an area where the mutual interest in media and education of both organisations provide synergy. Drik’s pioneering role in new media and ICT creates a clear path for the partnership to utilise the dynamism in Asian media and propel it to new heights.”

WAN-IFRA already has a publisher member in Bangladesh, The Independent daily newspaper.

This year, WAN-IFRA will organise its twentieth annual South Asian Conference, WAN-IFRA India 2012, on September 26 and 27 at Pune, India. The conference will address the challenges and opportunities for news publishers in the region and provide a direction into the future of the news publishing industry in the region.

WAN-IFRA South Asia, based in Chennai, India, manages services offered to the members and publishers in the South Asian region. 

About WAN-IFRA

WAN-IFRA, based in Paris, France, and Darmstadt, Germany, with subsidiaries in Singapore, India, Spain, France and Sweden, is the global organisation of the world’s newspapers and news publishers. It represents more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries. Its core mission is to defend and promote press freedom, quality journalism and editorial integrity and the development of prosperous businesses.

For more information, please contact: Magdoom Mohamed, Managing Director, WAN-IFRA South Asia Pvt. Ltd., 54 K B Dasan Rd, SIET Administrative Building, 3^rd Floor, Chennai 600 018, India (T:+91.44.4211 2893 F:+91.44.2435 9744). Email:infoindia@wan-ifra.org (or) Dr.Shahidul Alam, Managing Director, Drik Picture Library Ltd., House No.58, Road 15A, Dhanmondi Residential Area, Dhaka 1209, Bangladesh (T:+880.2.9120 125). Email: office@drik.net

Pathshala, the South Asian Media Academy takes pleasure in inviting you to the presentation of Frank Fournier in Pathshala.

Frank Fournier is a French photographer. He originally studied medicine before becoming a photographer. He moved to New York and became a staff photographer at Contact Press Images in 1982 after joining the office staff in 1977. His portrait of Omayra Sanchez, a 13-year-old trapped under the debris of her home, won the 1986 World Press Photo award.

Frank is currently in Bangladesh to conduct a workshop on international reporting at Sylhet in the north east of Bangladesh. He is one of three international photographers, the others being Greg Marinovic (Kolkata), and Philip Blenkinsop (Kathmandu), who will be lead trainers in workshops involving photographers in Bangladesh (organised by Pathshala), India (organised by Drik India) and Nepal (organised by Photo Circle). Pathshala tutors Munem Wasif (India), Tanzim Ibne Wahab (Nepal) and Debashish Shom (Bangladesh) who along with Per Anders Rosenkvist of Oslo University College (OUC)  in Norway, will provide mentoring throught the workshop.

Pathshala has been actively collaborating with OUC for over six years, and students from Bangladesh, Nepal and Norway have been involved in exchanges supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Frank’s presentation follows talks by David Burnett (December 2011) and Pep Bonet (January 2012) and is part of the regular teaching programme at Pathshala.

The schedule of the presentation:

Date: February 04, 2012
Day: Saturday
Time: 6.00 pm
Venue: Pathshala (Room # 1)

Reportage on Wahid Adnan and Bangladeshi photojournalism on French Radio.

Le Bangladesh serait le pays où l’on trouve le plus de photojournalistes. Si c’est vrai, c’est en grande partie grâce à Shahidul Alam qui a lancé là-bas une école pour former les jeunes à la photographie. Pour que le Bangladesh se regarde dans les yeux, pour qu’on arrête de le regarder de loin, d’en haut. Pour ne pas laisser aux ONG le monopole de l’image. Rencontre avec Wahid Adnan, un jeune photojournaliste bangladais et avec son professeur, Shahidul Alam. Un reportage de Caroline Gillet

Pour voir les photos de Wahid Adnan – et sa série “Dhaka 9 to 5″:

Wahid Adnan © Wahid Adnan – 2012

Jashim Salam is a Chittagong, Bangladesh-based photographer working for DrikNEWS, an international news photo agency, since 2008. He is also studying photojournalism in The South Asian Media Academy and Institute of Photography. His work focuses on social documentary such as profiles of migrant workers, handicapped people, and climate-change refugees. His work has been published in The Sunday Times Magazine, Reader’s Digest, Better Photography, CNN, Photojournale, National Geographic online, Reuters, and many others. He is the recipient of many awards including the Jury Special Award in the 6th Humanity Photo Awards.

Dutch version

Rooms it had eight
And doors it had nine
Windows betwixt you find
Up above the glittering hall
Mirrors might make you blind

What fate alas makes bird do thus
Caged bird breaks free to fly
Of bamboo raw the cage I saw
This mind of mine still longs oh so
Lalon Fakir cries as he sees with his eyes
The cage wither and die

Lalon Fakir Shah (1771-1890) was a Bangali philospher and poet, who refused to be classified according to class, caste or religion. Born in what is now Kushtia, in Bangladesh, his verses dealt with the relationship between the body and soul, with the cage being the metaphor for the body and the bird the symbol fo the soul.

New forms of slavery create new kinds of chains; violence suffered in silence, ancestral lands commandeered, resistance made illegal. How many masks does the freedom to profit wear now? As an activist I want to go beyond walls built to occupy territories, beyond bombs dropped to coerce the unarmed, and cells built to house the ‘other’. As an artist, I want to paint with colours that don’t yet exist and use words I have yet to invent. As a photographer, I want to see how far the light will reach beyond the cage.

Two songs by Arif Baul sung at Lalon shah Bottola Modhupurnima Sadhushangha