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A martial arts enthusiast pulls a vehicle with a rope connected to his eye sockets during a performance in Hefei, Anhui province November 30, 2009. Picture taken November 30, 2009. REUTERS/China Daily

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    Country looks into waste and finds waste

    DHAKA
    Thu Oct 23, 2008 3:47pm EDT
    A money vendor counts notes at his stall next to a street in Dhaka September 19, 2008. REUTERS/Andrew Biraj

    DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh's anti-graft body has flushed out extensive corruption in government departments, including one case where 122 workers were paid to fix a single toilet, the anti-graft body said.

    Oddly Enough

    Colonel Hanif Iqbal, director general of the Anti-Corruption Commission, said the body had discovered more than 335 million taka ($4.8 million) had been misappropriated between 2000 and 2007 in nine regional offices of the state-run Bangladesh Telecommunications Company in Khulna.

    Iqbal said the telecoms department showed a claim for 100 workers' wages for repairs of electricity lines even though no work had been carried out.

    Bangladesh's army-backed interim government, which took over in January last year, has made fighting widespread corruption a top priority.

    The global corruption watchdog Transparency International rated Bangladesh the world's number one corrupt nation for five years until 2005.

    (Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by David Fox)
    Oddly Enough


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