1,432 complaints registered at CIAA HQ in less than a month of current FY

Kathmandu / Aug. 7: More and more complaints are being filed at the central office of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA). As many as 1,432 complaints have been filed at the CIAA as of August 5 of the current fiscal year.

According to CIAA Spokesperson Shyam Prasad Bhandari, 557 written complaints, 272 through post, 253 through e-mails, 193 through the website, 84 through telephone calls, 36 through news, 10 through Facebook, 2 through Viber and 25 others have been filed at the commission.

Similarly, there were 95 complaints registered at the office of the commission in Kanchanpur, 70 in Pokhara, 67 in Butwal, 41 in Nepalgunj, 92 in Bardibas, 94 in Surkhet, 85 in Hetauda, 94 in Itahari and 794 in the head office of the commission in Tangal. The commission had arrested three people on the charge of asking for bribes on the 20th day of the current fiscal year. Among those arrested are a deputy secretary and two officers.

From July 17 to August 5, they were arrested by the team deployed from the CIAA head office, Tangal, and its subordinate offices. Bindu Shrestha Pradhan, a computer officer working at the Internal Revenue Office, Maharajgunj, was arrested by the commission for bribery on August 3. The CIAA Spokesperson Bhandari said that Pradhan had demanded a bribe of Rs 30,000 from a customer for the approval of a computer billing software.

Similarly, on August 3, Pramod Nepal, the deputy secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, was arrested with Rs 600,000 he had taken in bribes and Rs 1.65 million without source from his car. The team of the Commission arrested Nepal with the bribe money from a hotel in Nagpokhari. Spokesperson Bhandari said that an investigation into the matter is underway.

Similarly, on the first day of the current year, Dipendra Budha Chhetri, an officer of Mohanyal Rural Municipality of Kailali, was arrested by the Kanchanpur-based CIAA team with a bribe of Rs 30,000. He was arrested with Rs 30,000 as a bribe from a customer at Navratna Hotel located in Ghodaghodi Municipality-1.

He was arrested on the basis of a complaint that he had demanded a bribe of Rs 30,000from a customer. The commission had filed 131 charge sheets at the Special Court alleging corruption in the year 2078/79. The commission filed the charge sheet after investigation based on the complaint of corruption in public bodies. The commission has filed six charge sheets within the 5th of August of the current fiscal year.