Kathmandu, May 7: Chief Commissioner of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Prem Kumar Rai, has said a new trend of amassing money from corruption and stashing it abroad was on rise of late.
During a meeting of the Committee on Strengthening of the Federalism and National Concerns under the National Assembly held to discuss the 34th annual report of the CIAA on Wednesday, CIAA Chief Rai said the money earned in an illegal manner was making flight abroad. "It is clear sign that corruption has internationalized. The roots of the embezzlement are spread across the foreign countries," he said, adding, "I think the money sent abroad to relatives and children is later brought back to Nepal as remittance."
He shared the plight that although CIAA made efforts to bring back the money sent abroad (the UAE, Singapore and others) in an illegal manner, it could not be materialized for lack of bilateral agreement. "Singapore had even promised to return such money but absence of agreement to this regard was barrier to enforce it," he reminded.
A team had reached Hong Kong to study on gold smuggling, which also returned empty handed for same reason.
The CIAA Chief Commissioner disclosed that the United States did not cooperate with Nepal to conduct investigation on wide-body purchase scam involving Nepal Airlines Corporation.
During the meeting, the lawmakers accused CIAA of letting the corrupt people/officials off the hook and taking decision being politically biased.
In response, he argued CIAA does not work under anyone's pressure and influence. "I do not know what happened in the past, but I've not faced any 'pressure from above'.
He also denied lawmakers' claim that big fishes were let off the hook. He argued, "Employees does not mention the names they are forced by but admit the corruption themselves.
More than 29, 000 complaints were lodged at CIAA so far in this fiscal year. He, however, said if CIAA quits entertaining unknown applicant, the number of complaints decline heavily.
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