KATHMANDU: Finance Minister Surendra Pandey today urged international donor communities to support the government’s anti-corruption drive.

Finance Minister Pandey’s senior advisor Keshav Acharya quoted the minister’s statement made before the donor coummunity.

In the meeting with the donors here today, FM Pandey also sought their help in bringing back Nepali money stashed in foreign banks.

Money earned through corruption is stored in foreign banks and donors must help to bring it back, senior advisor Keshav Acharya said quoting Pandey. According to Acharya, some foreign communities are aiding and abetting corruption in Nepal. Low valuation of automobiles is an example, he said.

Earlier, hundreds of imported foreign vehicles had been stopped at the customs due to the valuation dispute.

The Ministry of Finance study has found that the vehicles are imported at low valuation to cheat on customs duty. Acharya said FM Pandey asked for the donors’ support in the next census in 2011.

The ministry has projected Rs 1.8 billion expenditure for the census which mobilizes 43,000 people. Nepal started population census in 1911.

Speaking to the donors, minister Pandey informed them about the priorities of the upcoming three-year interim plan.

The plan has given priority to employment and inclusive development. “MoF is expecting support for the plan,” said Acharya quoting Finance

Minister Pandey.