A newly launched crowdsourced platform for anonymously reporting demands for bribes in government services has received 2,709 submissions involving Tk35.17 crore within three days, offering an early snapshot of the scale and spread of citizens’ reported encounters with corruption.
Ghush.site, launched on August 21, Dhaka accounting for almost half of all submissions.
The figures, however, are based entirely on anonymous user submissions and have not been independently verified.
The platform explicitly labels published reports as “unverified” and does not identify individual officials accused of demanding bribes.
Founded by friends Saif Kabeer and Shahed Sharif, the website was inspired by a similar initiative in India.
Rather than investigating individual allegations, the founders aim to bring scattered experiences of bribery into a single database that could help reveal patterns across government offices and public services.
“We don't claim that these reports are proof against any government official,” Sharif told Dhaka Tribune, stressing that the platform is neither an investigative body nor an alternative to the Anti-Corruption Commission.
The geographical breakdown nevertheless offers a striking initial picture.
Dhaka recorded 887 complaints involving alleged demands for Tk11.54 crore, followed by Chittagong with 447 complaints totaling Tk5.9 crore.
Rajshahi recorded 124 complaints involving Tk95.33 lakh, Khulna 118 involving Tk31.84 lakh and Rangpur 100 involving Tk29.89 lakh.
Sylhet received 79 reports involving Tk18.99 lakh, Mymensingh 72 involving Tk23.31 lakh and Barisal 67 involving Tk6.17 lakh.
Sharif said land-related services accounted for a significant share of submissions, with some users reporting demands exceeding Tk1 crore in transactions involving properties worth around Tk25 crore.
Anonymous by design
Submitting a complaint requires no registration.
Users provide the government office, service sought, location, amount allegedly demanded and outcome, with an option to briefly describe their experience.
The platform prohibits users from naming individual officials or including phone numbers.
Reports are also moderated before publication.
A team of around five volunteer moderators removes identifying information and filters abusive, unclear or policy-violating submissions.
Sharif said anonymity was deliberately built into the platform partly because of the legal risks involved in publishing unverified corruption allegations.
“You know the situation in Bangladesh; we don't really want to go to jail,” he said.
The platform is currently self-funded but accepts voluntary donations. Sharif said it received around $100 in donations on one day.
The founders eventually hope to use such funding to build a legal team, particularly if the initiative develops beyond documenting anonymous experiences.
“We can't really go after them without proper legal backing. That could land us in serious trouble,” Sharif said.
He said establishing a sufficiently strong legal team would require resources the founders currently lack and suggested government-backed legal support would be preferable.
For now, Ghush.site’s value, and its central limitation, lie in the same feature: anonymity.
Its reports cannot establish that corruption occurred, but the volume of submissions within days of its launch suggests substantial public appetite for a space to document experiences that citizens may otherwise never formally report.