White Paper on ICT Corruption to Be Released in Two Months

A separate white paper on corruption in the ICT sector is set to be published within the next two months. According to relevant sources, a five-member committee led by Professor Dr. Niaz Asadullah, a Professorial Fellow at North South University, is working on the report.

Meanwhile, the ICT Division under the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications, and Information and Communication Technology has also included provisions for this white paper in the draft of the National Digital Transformation Strategy and ICT Reform Roadmap. The draft was edited by Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, Policy Advisor (Coordination and Reform) of the ICT Division.

Section 27 of the roadmap states, "A dedicated team will work on the ICT corruption white paper and investigate the depreciation, irregularities, and fraudulent activities in the ICT sector during the previous government's tenure."

Previously, the Bangladesh 2.0 Civil Reform Group had demanded a separate white paper detailing the use of surveillance software and technology that allegedly restricted citizens’ rights and freedom of expression in recent years. During a platform discussion, speakers stated, "In the last 10 years, highly sophisticated surveillance software and technologies worth thousands of crores of taka have been purchased from Israel and other countries for eavesdropping. The citizens of this country have the right to know on what grounds, through which processes, and for what purposes these technologies were acquired using public funds."

Commenting on the development, Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, the ICT Division’s Policy Advisor (Coordination and Reform), stated, "A policy decision has been made to publish a separate white paper on ICT sector corruption. We are currently searching for experts who can execute this task efficiently."

According to sources, the white paper committee will proceed based on findings from a 13-member investigation committee that was previously formed to examine ICT corruption. The investigation committee’s report revealed that half of the 21 projects, worth 25,000 crore taka, undertaken by various departments and agencies under the ICT Division over the past 15 years, were embezzled. It was found that projects which could have been completed for 5 taka were instead executed at 20 taka.

Additionally, due to the internet shutdown imposed across the country from July 18 to July 28 in response to student protests demanding quota reform, the internet service sector suffered losses amounting to thousands of crores of taka.