Working in responsible and accountable manner: CIAA Chief

Chief Commissioner of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Prem Kumar Rai, said the anti-graft constitutional body is working in a responsible and accountable way to stem corruption and promote good governance.

Speaking in the meeting of the National Assembly, National Concern and Coordination Committee here today, he asserted that the CIAA was carrying out its job setting a vision of building a corruption-free society that upholds integrity.

The CIAA Chief Commissioner stated that efforts were being made to achieve the goals of checking corruption and institutional strengthening through preventive, promotional and curative procedures by establishing the smooth and easy access of the people to national development and public service.

Stating that the Commission is active towards extending cooperation to maintain the quality and standard of development and construction projects rather than becoming an impediment in the development construction and project management, he expressed the commitment to conduct investigations in a way to facilitating the timely completion of the projects of national pride and other projects by maintaining the quality.

Chief Commissioner Rai reiterated that the CIAA is committed to check the tendency to encroaching on public land, misappropriation of the government budget and committing corruption in revenue collection as well as taking bribe and other unethical practices.

He underscored that the CIAA was focussed on achieving good governance and prosperity by means of corruption control, exercising its constitutional authority and responsibilities without harbouring any bias towards anyone.

The Commission has adopted the preventive strategy of making all the sides concerned responsible towards investigation and prosecution.

During the programme, it was informed that agency-level coordination, cooperation, discussions, interaction, publicity, institutional good governance and capacity enhancement of the Commission have been emphasized under the promotional strategies of the Commission to prevent corruption and promote good governance.

In last year's Transparency International report, Nepal ranked 110th in the Corruption Perceptions Index with a 34 score and in this context, capacity enhancement of corruption regulatory and monitoring bodies and corrections regarding the culture of shying away from duties and responsibilities have been highlighted.

As Chief Commissioner Rai said, corruption in Nepal is taking place from international level as the amount for it is being paid and provided in the name of seminar or other programme at the international level.

Relevancy of the consumers committees has been questioned as these committees are said to be acting as middlepersons, he said. The committees have been formed at all three levels, federal, province and local, with the aim of helping consumers. "Work of the committees has not been satisfactory. Corruption has increased. Anomalies have taken a refuse. There is not discipline," said the Commission. On the occasion, data was presented about corruption of big amount of money by all three governments in the name of consultation service, and expenses extravagantly done by wards in making village profiles.

Earlier, the Committee President Dil Kumari Thapa and members demanded information about functions done by the Commission for promoting good governance stating that corruption has taken place due to the Commission becoming ineffective.

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