The global civil society organisation’s local office said at a press conference in Dhaka on Thursday that it has identified corruption at 16 stages of three layers in the supply chain of the country’s largest foreign exchange earner.
TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman said the three layers where corruption took place are work order issuance, production, and supply.
He said the study was based on information available from November, 2014 to April, 2015.
TIB’s Shahjada M Akram, Nazmul Huda Mina and Nina Shamunnahar presented the study report titled ‘The role of stakeholders in tackling irregularities and corruption in supply chain of RMG sector’.
The study report said, “Bribes are offered to cover up the lapses in quality and quantity of products and in compliance... Irregularities and corruption has been a regular phenomenon in the entire supply chain.”
Iftekharuzzaman said, “Everyone will have to work for further advancement of this sector though it has attained a 60 percent growth. The growth rate will increase if a .few steps are taken to prevent the irregularities and corruption.”
According to the study, the bribe-prone stages include communication between brands/importers and local agents/buying houses, contact with compliance factories, work order issuance, price fixation/bargain, orders for samples, back-to-back LC opening against master LC, purchase/import of raw materials, product and factory inspection, quality inspection at pre-shipment level and shipment.
Explaining the 60 percent progress being claimed, he said a survey in 2013 had revealed administrative shortcomings in 63 spheres. But the situation had improved because of 102 initiatives taken by the government, factory owners and buyers.
He said the research methodology adopted had filtered out doubtful statistics.
Although government officials are usually blamed for irregularities and corruption, the TIB, in this research, has highlighted the wrongdoings of others as well.
“Everyone is involved in irregularities in lesser or larger measure. It is unfair to pull up government official only. Buyers, agents, and other linked to this sector cannot shrug off their responsibility,” said the executive director.
The TIB report makes 27 recommendations to curb irregularities and corruption in the garment sector.
Some of them are the spurning of all bribe offers made by supplier factories, unannounced factory inspection, cancellation of work orders is necessary, and initiation of legal steps against factories.
As for the buyers, the report stresses ethical and professional attitudes on their part.
Besides, it has also suggested identification numbers for factories, establishment of a government cell to monitor the payment of the minimum wages to workers, and strict enforcement of policies by the BJMEA, BKMEA, and the labour ministry.