The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) on Monday has told the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) that it can investigate Raj Narayan Pathak who resigned as commissioner after corruption allegation.
The constitutional anti-graft body earlier on the day had sought the opinion of the OAG asking whether it can conduct investigation on the commissioner of a constitutional body.
The OAG has responded pointing that the CIAA can investigate Pathak as per the Article 239(2) and clause 39 (2) of the CIAA Act, according to a source.
Pathak resigned on Friday after news reports about a video of Pathak taking bribe from promoter of Nepal Engineering College located at Changu Narayan, Bhaktapur. CIAA is under pressure to punish Pathak even after his resignation.
CIAA office-bearers have been discussing about whether to initiate a case against Pathak or not since Sunday. But they were in confusion due to lack of clear constitutional provision.
The CIAA office-bearers concurred that Pathak should be punished as the image of CIAA has taken a hit after the reports of a commissioner taking bribe. But it was in a quandary thinking Pathak, who could have been punished if he were impeached, cannot be punished after resignation.
Article 239(2) of the constitution states that the CIAA can conduct investigations against the office-bearers that can be dismissed after impeachment. The next clause of the same article states that CIAA can file a court case if the impeachable office-bearer following investigations is found to have committed corruption.
The CIAA can initiate investigation limited to the issue, and Pathak can be jailed for 9-11 years if the corruption charge is established in the court.
Any office-bearer who takes bribe of Rs 5-10 million is liable for a jail term of 6-8 years, and should pay the claim amount and a fine equal to the claim amount, as per the Prevention of Corruption Act 2002. But the offender will get an additional three-year sentence if the person is an office-bearer at constitutional bodies appointed by the president.
Nepalkhabar news portal had published a news report about a video of Pathak taking bribe from promoter of Nepal Engineering College located at Changu Narayan, Bhaktapur Wednesday evening.
Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli, CIAA Chief Commissioner Navin Kumar Ghimire, deputy parliamentary party leader of the ruling CPN Subas Chandra Nembang and Attorney General Agni Kharel had reportedly watched the video four months ago but they sat on the smoking gun for four months and did not initiate any action against him.
CPN started preparations for registering impeachment motion on Thursday once the news report was published. Pathak resigned to the president on Friday after news reports about impeachment were published.
