Kathmandu. Chief Commissioner of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Prem Kumar Rai, has said that the government has not helped in bringing back assets acquired through corruption and hidden abroad.
Speaking at the meeting of the Federalism Strengthening and National Concerns Committee under the National Assembly, Chief Commissioner Rai said this. He said that although the other party has agreed to return assets acquired through corruption and hidden in Singapore, America and Europe to Nepal, the government does not want to do so.
‘We are still not in a position to bring back the money in Singapore, America and Europe. You have to help in this. Even though Singapore said that it would send the money that was stolen, the government did not move forward. Even though a task force has been formed, no work is being done,” Rai said.
Chief Commissioner Rai mentioned that corruption is no longer limited to the country but has become international. He claimed that the number of non-resident citizens involved in corruption is significant.
He also urged the MPs to cooperate in the work of returning the assets earned through corruption and kept abroad. He complained that although the government has formed a task force to work in this regard, it has not worked quickly. Chief Commissioner Rai claimed that there is no political pressure and influence in the investigation of the Authority. He said that after he assumed office, he has not received pressure from any top leadership to prosecute/not prosecute the case. He claimed that investigations have been conducted against those with major nexus involved in corruption and irregularities.
He also claimed that there has been a change in the control of corruption in the information technology sector. Chief Commissioner Rai also said that the investigation is being affected because the employees involved in corruption do not open their mouths about their involvement at the higher levels.
He said, ‘I do not know what happened in the past, after I assumed my tenure, there may have been some disagreements. Someone may have had some influence. But no political leadership has said that a case should be taken or not. Good governance should be maintained, this is the situation. The idea of not taking big fish has been going on for 5/10 years.’
He said that the definition of fish should also be changed into big and small. ‘Who is called a big fish and who is a small fish? We feel like we have taken people who have a big nexus in corruption and irregularities.’, said Chief Commissioner Rai.
He also claimed that corruption in the information technology sector has been transformed. He said that the reason why leaders are not involved in corruption is that employees do not take their names in statements.
‘The question of the people is why upper-level people were not involved. The only scapegoats were employees. For the higher-level person, the employee who took the statement had to say it with evidence. But they don’t even want to take any names.’ News Agency Nepal
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