Raj Pal Singh Kahlon, Chairman at Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) and D.D. Jagtap Dattaji, Director of Bharat Calcutta Containers Terminal Limited (BCCTL) have been arrested following police reports that they had both accepted bribes, according to Business Standard.
Read: Shipping is “Most Corrupt Industry”
A police officer said: “Raj Pal Singh Kahlon, Chairman of KoPT and D.D. Jagtap Dattaji, Director of BCCTL [was] arrested for making over and accepting bribes of approximately Rs. 20 lakh ($30,000).”
Previous reports by PTI showed that corruption is a problem in the maritime industry globally, recently in Tanzania a port boss was suspended indefinitely after violating procurement procedures.
Tanzania has since pledged that it is looking to clean up port corruption after sacking two port officials in the country’s port and transport sectors.
Technical Paper: Trade Costs and Corruption in Ports
Alexandra Wrage, the President and Founder of anti-bribery compliance expert Trace, recently said the shipping industry was the “most corrupt”.
Wrage said: “In many ways, the shipping industry is exposed to more levels of corruption than any other industry, as it is a global industry that does not have a mature anti-corruption compliance culture.”