KATHMANDU, JULY 20
On June 2, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority arrested three persons on the charge of bribery from Itahari. The arrested included road development project manager Hutraj Chauhan, engineer Rabindra Kumar Sharma and accountant Himal Paudel of the Project Implementation Unit in Jhapa.
They had allegedly taken a bribe of Rs 400,000 from various service-seekers on the pretext of facilitating the final bill payment for road construction.
On June 9, Lekhnath Bhattarai, a medical lab technician working at the NationalPublic Health Laboratory, Teku, Kathmandu, was arrested with a sum of Rs 50,000 in bribe from Sankhamul.
According to the CIAA, he had demanded the bribe from a service-seeker to facilitate the lab registration process.
On May 5, the anti-graft body arrested a sub-inspector of Nepal Police with bribe money of Rs 50,000 cash and a cheque bearing Rs 150,000 from New Baneshwor in Kathmandu.
SI Binod Bista, who had his posting in Mahottari District Police Office as an accountant, had arrived in Kathmandu to receive the bribe money.
As per a report released by the CIAA, it conducted 37 sting operations during the fiscal 2022-23, leading to the arrest of 54 people with bribe. A total of 40 government officials, including police personnel, eight elected officials, mainly the local level office-bearers, and six accomplices/intermediaries were arrested.
The CIAA informed that 32 chargesheets were filed at the Special Court against 46 defendants during the fiscal 2022-23. The process of filing chargesheets against the remaining defendants is under way. In the fiscal 2021-22, it had conducted 25 sting operations, leading to the arrest of 39 persons with bribe.
Despite repeated CIAA warnings about its intensified sting operation, bribery continues unabated at government offices. The 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/intermediaries faced action as per sub-section (2) of section 3 of the same law.
The CIAA said it had also mobilised its employees to pose as service-seekers in corruption-prone public offices to test the integrity of the officials concerned.
However, most of the defendants were arrested acting on complaints received from service-seekers. Micro-surveillance and rapid action procedures were implemented against government employees involved in irregularities and corruption.
Controlling the corrupt tendency of officials is expected to improve public service delivery system, the CIAA said.
According to the anti-graft body, it has 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 14 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 21, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
