• The anti-graft body received 4,670 fresh complaints in the first quarter of the current fiscal

Kathmandu, December 2

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority dealt with as many as 11,758 complaints related to corruption and financial irregularities in the first quarter (mid-July to mid-October) of the fiscal 2018-19.

A report published by the anti-graft body as per the Right to Information Act and Rules, said it received a total of 4,670 complaints in the first quarter of this fiscal and 7,088 complaints were carried forward from the previous fiscal totalling 11,758 till mid-October.

The anti-graft body informed that it settled 3,398 complaints and the success rate was 29 per cent. The number of outstanding complaints is 1,278.

Similarly, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority carried out detailed investigation of 150 high-priority cases during the first quarter and put 94 cases on deposition with suggestions.

According to the report, the CIAA had adopted preventive, promotional and punitive measures for corruption control. As part of the anti-graft body’s punitive action, 84 corruption cases were filed against 159 persons at the Special Court, claiming around Rs 320 million during the first quarter.

Similarly, the CIAA said that it was successful in its sting operation against bribery. The anti-graft body arrested 57 employees from civil and security services, and middlemen red-handed while receiving bribe from service-seekers and filed charge-sheets against them at the court.

Around Rs 10.5 million in question was claimed from the defendants.

Those arrested and under the CIAA scanner included joint attorney, chief administrative officer, senior agricultural development officer, divisional engineer, mechanical engineer, survey officer, accountant, sub-engineer, surveyor, electrician, officer assistant, deputy superintendent of police, deputy registrar, land revenue officer, police inspector, sub-inspector, assistant sub-inspector, head constable, constable and technical assistant, among others.

Police personnel rule the chart of officials arrested by the CIAA in its sting operations.

According to the anti-graft body, 18 cops were held during the reporting period. On October 6, the CIAA had arrested Deputy Superintendent of Police Shyam Kumar Rai red-handed while receiving a bribe of Rs 140,000 from a local businessman at Bouddha-based Metropolitan Police Circle. DSP Rai had made the service-seeker pay the bill of a television set he had bought for his office.

Likewise, the CIAA filed charge-sheets against a person holding public post at the court on charge of amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. The CIAA claimed around Rs 30 million from him.