Chief Commissioner of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Navin Kumar Ghimire has said there are stacks of complaints about corruption at the local level.
Ghimire during the hearing in the
Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee on Thursday expressed dissatisfaction at the CIAA being stopped from looking at inappropriate works at the local level. "Works at the local level have violated the laws. The CIAA has been forced to remain mere spectator," Ghimire complained.
He explained that whether such works are corruption or inappropriate works can be determined only after going half the way into investigations. He rued that the central government has not taken action even as the constitution has slashed the CIAA's rights to look into such matter.
"We cannot even give instructions apart from submitting report to the president," he pointed and claimed that the local bodies require vigilance now. "We cannot dictate to the government or instruct. We cannot say anything apart from complaining they do not comply," he added.
He revealed that the number of complaints have increased also due to the dispute between the chiefs and deputy chiefs of local bodies. "The conflict between chiefs and deputy chiefs has created complaints. We need to correct the electoral system," he suggested.
He claimed that the elected local representatives have started to seek return on their investment made during the election. "How can the ward chairman get return on their investment? The inappropriate works answer that."
The majority of lawmakers pointed that the CIAA has been losing most of the corruption cases in the court and blamed poor investigation by CIAA for that. Ghimire in response said a committee to examine completion of investigation has been formed. "We have been preparing checklist and giving suggestions," he stated.
The lawmakers repeated the age-old complaint of the CIAA arresting only the small offenders and letting the big fish go. Ghimire argued that the CIAA does not discriminate between big and small fish. "Misappropriation of both a penny and millions are corruption."
