The country has bogged down in corruption as everybody is indirectly involved in this menace, said Finance Minister AMA Muhith today.

“Corruption is there in our blood...we've bogged down in this menace," the minister said, reports UNB.

He was addressing the inaugural session of the Anti-Corruption Commission's (ACC) hotline service at its head office in Dhaka.

Noting that many times people are forced to get involved in corruption, the minister said, “There was no corruption culture in Bangladesh in the past. Once it used to take place in secret...it was a matter of shame. But, now it happens openly."

He, however, stressed the need for using modern technologies to curb corruption as technologies create many scopes to prevent the social menace.

"The optimum use of technologies will help reduce corruption...there's a big scope to minimise corruption in different sectors, including public procurement, by using technologies," he said.

Earlier, Muhith inaugurated the ACC's hotline by making a phone call to the ACC's Complaint Centre dialling: 106.

Speaking at the occasion, ACC Chairman Iqbal Mahmud said people can directly lodge allegation with the anti-graft body through the hotline.

ACC Commissioners Dr Md Nasir Uddin Ahmed and AFM Aminul Islam and its secretary Abu M Mustafa Kamal were, among others, present on the occasion.

In January this year, the ACC got approval with a number (106) from The Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Limited (BTCL) to launch a hotline.