KATHMANDU, JULY 21
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority arrested Dharmendra Pate, mayor of Debahigonahi Municipality of Rautahat, with bribe amount of Rs 500,000 that he received from a service-seeker in February.
He solicited the bribe for releasing payment to a contractor for development activities carried out through the municipality. Basanta Maharjan, a ward member of Kathmandu-14, was also arrested with a bribe of Rs 200,000 during the same period. He is said to have received bribe form a service-seeker for helping him acquire land ownership certificate.
On April 11, the CIAA arrested Dhanusha Land Revenue Office Chief Sunil Kumar Jha with bribe money. A team from CIAA Bardibas Office caught Jha with bribe amount of Rs 500,000 that he had received from a service-seeker. These are only a few instances of bribery thriving in public offices.
According to a report released by the CIAA, it conducted 25 sting operations in the fiscal 2021-22, leading to the arrest of 39 persons with bribe. They include 26 public post holders, six elected officials, and six intermediaries.
Despite repeated CIAA warnings about its intensified sting operation, bribery continues unabated at government offices.
Persons involved in bribery were charged under sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, in the case of government employees, while others working as their accomplices or intermediaries faced action as per sub-section (2) of section 3 of the same law.
The CIAA said it had mobilised its employees to pose as service-seekers in corruption-prone public offices, to test the integrity of the officials concerned. "Micro-surveillance and rapid action procedures were implemented against government employees involved in irregularities and corruption. It is expected to improve the public service delivery system by controlling the corrupt tendency of officials, it informed.
The anti-graft body said it had also strengthened its information analysis unit to pursue reform, transparency and good governance in the public service sector. A survey conducted by the CIAA on 'Status of Corruption and Good Governance in Nepal' has categorically identified fourteen public offices, which are most corruption-sensitive and where bribe-free services are denied.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 22, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
