Graft case against forest officer for amassing wealth, wife made defendant

Kathmandu, February 8

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority today filed a charge-sheet at the Special Court, Kathmandu against Suresh Singh, an employee at Sagarmatha Forest Development Project Office, Sarlahai, for illegally amassing property and embezzling funds while working in the public post.

The constitutional anti-graft body charged the accused as per Section 20(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2002 and sought to recoup Rs 13.6 million from him.

Similarly, maximum punishment has been claimed as per section 20(2) of the same Act.

CIAA has also sought confiscation of property from the accused as per section 47 of the Act and section 29 (b) of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority Act-1991.

Besides, Nirmaladevi Singh, wife of the accused, has also been made defendant in the case.

Meanwhile, the CIAA has appealed to all for active participation and collaboration in its efforts by providing it timely and valid information on corruption activities taking place in people’s vicinity.

In the fiscal year 2014/15, the Central and Regional Offices of the CIAA and the District Administration Offices vested with the delegated authority of the CIAA received a total of 31,213 complaints, out of which 9,710 complaints were carried forward from the previous fiscal 2014/15 whereas 21,503 new complaints were registered in the fiscal 2014/15.

According to the 25th annual report of the CIAA, preliminary investigation has been completed on all the complaints received in the fiscal 2014/15.

Therefore, fiscal year 2014/15 saw an increase of 3,527 complaints over the complaints registered in the previous fiscal.

During the period, as many as 21,648 complaints had been resolved out of the total 31,213 complaints received.

Of the complaints resolved, decision to conduct detailed investigation has been made on 1,244 complaints whereas the remaining complaints were resolved by applying other multiple provisions. I

n view of the complaints resolved, overall performance achievement of the CIAA in the fiscal 2014/15 has been around 70 per cent, read the report.