Kathmandu, June 9

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority today filed a charge-sheet at the Special Court against Rajendra Kafle, a surveyor at Bhaktapur-based Survey Office, for allegedly accumulating disproportionate assets worth around Rs 54.3 million.

Kafle managed to disclose the source for only Rs 17.4 million out of the total assets worth around Rs 71.7 million he had reportedly earned after joining the civil service on 16 December 1997, according to the anti-graft body.

Kafle accumulated illegal assets of around Rs 54.3 until 15 May 2019. “Of the total assets worth around Rs 71.7 million owned by Kafle and his wife Sushila, he could not produce supporting evidence for around Rs 54.3 million,” said Joint Secretary Pradip Kumar Koirala, CIAA spokesperson.

Kafle was found to have purchased land in the name of his wife in Bhaktapur and Kavre districts. The disproportionate amount was invested in land, house and banks and financial institutions.

The CIAA has sought recovery of Rs 54.3 million, along with an equivalent fine and jail sentence for Kafle as per Section 20 of the Prevention of Corruption Act-2002. The anti-graft body has also listed his wife Sushila as defendant in the charge-sheet under the act.

According to the study on ‘Status of Corruption and Good Governance in Nepal-2019’, survey offices are the second most corrupt public entities after land revenue offices in the country. The CIAA said service-seekers were obliged to pay bribe money to get their works done in various layers without any justification.

“Corruption has emerged as a big challenge to Nepal, in terms of service delivery and good governance,” the report warned.

The report has also offered a number of suggestions to the government for making progress in the fight against rising corruption in public offices. It stresses the need to incorporate the subjects of good governance and anti-corruption into school and university curriculum.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 10, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.