Nepal - Corruption
Police corruption, especially among low-level and underpaid police officers, and lack of punishment for police abuses remained problems. Corruption and impunity remained problems within the Nepal Police. According to international observers, there was a severe shortage of senior-level officers. At the district level, this shortage resulted in untrained constables making policies and decisions outside of their authority and without supervision, creating space for bribery, corruption, misinterpretation, and abuse of authority.
The Commission for the Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (CIAA), which is mandated to investigate official acts of corruption, requested the government to take action against the minister of energy and the minster of youth and sports for alleged corrupt acts. In response the minister of youth and sports resigned on 01 October 2015, and the Office of the Prime Minister terminated the minister of energy the following day. The CIAA also took high-profile action against officials of the Ministry of Urban Development for fraud in purchasing tarpaulins for the victims of the earthquake, and against licensed teachers accused of registering fake public schools to siphon off budgets and salaries.
The CIAA continued to investigate fraud in foreign labor migration. In June the CIAA arrested 12 Department of Foreign Employment (DFE) officials accused of issuing work permits based on fake documents in exchange for bribes from recruitment agencies. This followed the arrest in March 2014 of six DFE officials accused of accepting 3.27 million rupees ($32,700) to allow 109 migrants with fraudulent documents to travel to Qatar, and another 1.89 million rupees ($18,900) to allow 63 migrants with fraudulent documents to travel to Dubai. As of early October, both cases were pending.
There were numerous reports of corrupt actions by government officials, political parties, and party-affiliated organizations. As in previous years, student and labor groups associated with political parties demanded contributions from schools and businesses. Corruption and impunity remained general problems within the Nepal Police and Armed Police Force.
On 21 April 2010, the CIAA directed the Nepal Investment Bank to freeze the account of the financial relief fund being operated by the minister of women, children, and social welfare, Sarvadev Ojha, after suspecting malfeasance. According to the CIAA, Ojha had been depositing amounts received from foreign donors and also using the account according to his discretion without approval from the ministry or the CA. The CIAA asked Ojha to submit an explanation; as of year's end, there was no response. There were reports that the CIAA secretary faced political pressure not to prosecute ministers.
On 31 August 2010, the CIAA arrested CA member Dol Bahadur Karki and his accomplice, Brahmananda Udaseen, after Karki allegedly received a 100,000 rupee ($1,384) bribe to help a man get appointed to the NP. A special court remanded Karki to temporary custody to investigate the charges, and a court hearing was set for January 2011.
On July 15, the Supreme Court stayed the government's attempt to withdraw pending criminal cases due to the government's failure to provide sufficient reason to justify the withdrawals. Almost two dozen accused persons were affected by the decision. All the cases were forwarded to the district attorneys' offices for evaluation of the individual cases' merits and were pending at year's end.
In December 2010 the UN expressed concern about the effectiveness of the NP unit in Darfur, since the unit was unable to use its armored personnel carriers (APCs). A Parliamentary Investigation Committee report stated that a lack of transparency, including possible embezzlement, during the procurement process resulted in the procurement of nonfunctional APCs.
Public officials are subject to financial disclosure laws. According to the National Vigilance Center, the body mandated to monitor financial disclosures and make them available to the public, in fiscal year 2013-14 23,859 civil servants had not submitted their annual financial statements as required by law, according to the latest data available. They may face a fine of up to 5,000 rupees ($50). The CIAA publicly demanded that officials be more diligent in submitting financial disclosure reports. Ministers are required to submit their property details within two months of assuming office, and all 23 ministers did so.
Both the 2007 Interim Constitution and the new constitution adopted in September provide for the right to information on any matters of concern to oneself or the public, but they do not compel the government to provide information protected by law. In January the government formed the National Information Commission pursuant to the 2007 Right to Information Act. The commission is charged with adjudicating cases in which petitioners allege that they have been wrongly denied access to information, that information has been improperly classified, or that individuals were punished for whistle-blowing. The act also provides for punitive measures in cases of defiance.
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