By Prithvi Man Shrestha in The Kathmandu Post, April 12, 2023
A complaint has been registered at the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to investigate an alleged attempt by the Rastriya Swatantra Party Lawmaker Dhaka Kumar Shrestha to ‘buy’ for himself the post of health minister.
In a leaked audio, a voice, allegedly of Shrestha, demands Rs20 million from another person, presumably the controversial medical entrepreneur Durga Prasai, so that Shrestha can become health minister and “bring about radical reforms in the health sector.”
Prasai is the owner of the Birtamode-based B&C Medical College and Teaching Hospital. It appears that Shrestha and Prasai had engaged in a phone conversation to discuss the same on January 15 and the recording was leaked on Sunday.
Another tape has also been leaked on Monday in which a voice allegedly of Shrestha’s brother says he wants to talk to Prasai.
Bhola Dahal, spokesperson at the CIAA, said that a complaint has been registered at the anti-graft body based on the leaked audio and media reports. “The commission has the authority to investigate corruption cases based on complaints registered through telephone and media reports,” he said. “There will be further investigation in line with established CIAA procedures.”
The RSP, led by journalist-turned-politician Rabi Lamichhane, has suspended Shrestha from lawmaker and party member positions after the first audio tape was published on social media.
The party’s central discipline committee led by Bharat Mani Devkota has been entrusted with an ‘in-depth investigation’.
In a notice on Sunday, RSP General Secretary Mukul Dhakal instructed the party’s Central Discipline and Conduct Committee to launch an investigation into the matter and submit a report to the central committee within three days.
“We have received the report of the discipline committee. The report will be presented at the central committee, and the party meeting scheduled for Wednesday will discuss it,” Dhakal told the Post. “The central committee meeting has been called for 9am tomorrow.”
RSP chief whip Santosh Pariyar said the discipline committee has already sought clarification from Shrestha in person after inviting him to the party headquarters at Basundhara on Tuesday and a final call on Shrestha’s case would be made at the earliest.
According to party leaders, Shrestha has reiterated that the audio tape was tampered with and insisted that the voice was not his, but has also agreed to accept any decision the party takes.
Dhaka Kumar Shrestha was elected to the lower house last year from the
The National Assembly has passed the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority Act-1991 bringing the part of the private sector into the purview of the anti-graft body.
The move by the upper house has partly addressed the long-standing demand of the commission for a wider jurisdiction including powers to investigate private sector corruption.
But the private sector has long been opposing such a provision claiming it would affect investment decisions of the private sector and discourage investment.
As a party to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, Nepal has an obligation to address private sector corruption in one way or another as it calls for preventive measures and criminalisation of the most prevalent forms of corruption in both public and private sectors.
Rajendra Phuyal, secretary at the National Assembly, confirmed that the upper house on Monday passed the bill to amend CIAA Act-1991 with a provision that the commission would have authority to investigate private sector bodies which are connected with wider public interest.
He said that the newly endorsed bill has widened the definition of public entities by incorporating the entities wholly and partly owned by the government, banks and financial institutions, commissions, corporations, academies, and councils, among others.
The CIAA which faced curtailment of jurisdictions after the new constitution was promulgated in 2015, could gain new powers if the House of Representative also endorses the bill.
The constitution has also curtailed the powers exercised by the commission to investigate and prosecute public officials for improper conduct which includes abuse of authority.
“The decision to subject the private sector under the CIAA’s jurisdiction is also aimed at fulfilling Nepal’s international obligation as a party to the UN convention against corruption,” said Phuyal.
According to the UN Convention Against Corruption, to which Nepal is a signatory, member countries should take measures to prevent corruption involving the private sector, enhance accounting and auditing standards in the private sector and, where appropriate, provide effective, proportionate and dissuasive civil, administrative or criminal penalties for failure to comply with such measures.
In order to achieve these ends, the convention has called for measures to deepen cooperation between law enforcement agencies and relevant private entities and promote development of standards and procedures to safeguard the integrity of relevant private entities, including codes of conduct.
Prevention of conflicts of interest, promotion of the use of good commercial practices among businesses and in the contractual relations of businesses with the state, and prevention of the misuse of procedures regulating private entities are other measures included in the convention.
It calls for preventing conflicts of interest by imposing restrictions, as appropriate and for a reasonable period of time, on the professional activities of former public officials or on the employment of public officials by the private sector after their resignation or retirement.
The Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering, which has been conducting mutual evaluation of Nepal’s compliances to international standards on money laundering, has pointed out Nepal’s failure to criminalise corruption involving the private sector as one of the country’s deficiencies in complying with the standards on anti-money laundering and terrorist financing, according to a government official.
With the private sector concerned over the provision, endorsement of the bill with such provision might be hard nut to crack at the House of Representatives.
“Leaders, particularly from the Nepali Congress were vehemently against bringing the private sector under the purview of the CIAA,” a National Assembly official said.
Phuyal said along with a bill to amend the CIAA Act, another bill to amend the Corruption Prevention Act-2002 was also endorsed by the National Assembly on Monday.
There are divergent views among stakeholders on whether the private sector should be investigated by the CIAA for corruption.
Speaking at an event organised by the CIAA to mark its 32nd anniversary on February 11, Prem Kumar Rai, the chief commissioner, had called for an expanded jurisdiction to enable the commission to probe even improper conduct, issues related to conflict of interest, and private and non-governmental sectors as well.
But former CIAA chief commissioner Surya Nath Upadhyay told the Post last month that the state should not penalise the private sector for corruption so long as there is no involvement of government money, government officials or government institutions. “Otherwise, the private sector will feel hassled and discouraged,” he said.
Hari Bhakta Sharma, former president of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) told the Post last month that the business climate would be severely affected if further control measures are brought against the private sector. “Nepal’s economy is already overregulated,” he said.
https://kathmandupost.com/national/2023/04/12/bill-aimed-at-tackling-private-sector-corruption-gets-national-assembly-nod
