Bangladesh graft hotline gets 75,000 calls in first week

DAILY MAIL, 4 AUGUST, 2017 - Bangladesh’s new anti-graft hotline has been overwhelmed with tens of thousands of calls about acts of corruption in its first week, an official said Thursday.

 
Hotline number 106 was launched last Thursday by state authorities in an effort to crack down on graft in Bangladesh, which has been listed by a global watchdog as one of the world’s most corrupt nations.  
“Since July 27 around 75,000 people called our hotline,” Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) spokesman Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya told AFP.  

The commission is empowered to investigate bribes in government offices and agencies, misappropriation of state assets or money, embezzlement of state funds, amassing of wealth through illegal means, money laundering and bank fraud.  Local English daily The New Age said most complaints were against land record offices, followed by utility services, state-run hospitals,

government-run schools and railway and road transport authorities.