Kathmandu, October 4
Nepal’s constitutional anti-corruption body, Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, has demanded that laws governing it be amended so that the Commission gets more right to control corruption.
The Commission says it has been unable to intervene into many complaints that it receives due to lack of rights to investigate some issues. Therefore, the constitution as well as other related laws should be amended, the Commission demands.
During a meeting of the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of the House of Representatives on Wednesday, the Commission submitted a report, which also requests the parliamentary body to take initiatives for the amendments.
The Commission’s Secretary Maheshwar Neupane says the constitutional body is not allowed to investigate into irregularities of local governments involving staff recruitment, and handling of contracts of infrastructure development projects.
“These issues are not covered in our jurisdiction. But, we have received complaints galore,” he says.
The Commission claims legal complexity has been the biggest challenge in combating corruption in the country. “Our principal challenge is controlling corruption by strengthening the responsibility, rights and roles of the Commission,” the report reads, “Effective provisions should be implemented to control corruption in the private and nongovernment sectors as well.”
In another context, the Commission has demanded that the government formulate laws in order to implement the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
