Controlling Corruption
Forfeiting Property An Effective Tool

Ram Kumar Kamat

CANCER is not an infectious disease but the cancer of corruption is. Infact, it is not only a problem of poor countries. The first worlds also do have this menace. However, the impact of corruption there may not be as devastating as in the Third World. The developed countries have strong legal and other mechanisms to deal with corruption in countries like ours, there are some legal provisions, but their implementation is virtually nil. And, corruption flourishes in vacuums and impunity.

Corruption, defined simply, is the misuse of public power for private gain that can either be visible, invisible and both material or in other ways. Thus, it can be said that corruption involves corrupt behavior on the part of public authorities in which they improperly and unlawfully enrich themselves or those close to them. In the public administration, there are two types of corruption. In the first category, services and contract are provided according to ‘rule’ and in the second category the transactions are against the rule.

In the first situation, a public authority receives private gain illegally for doing something that he or she is ordinarily required to do by law. In the second situation, the bride is paid to obtain services which the official is prohibited from doing. As far as corruption in our country is concerned, it pervades every level from ministry to district level bodies.

Specially after the restoration of democracy every conscious person realised the gravity of this problems and is equally lamenting over the serious consequence of corruption. Yet there is no example of big fishes being caught by the anti corruption authorities. It is not that we do not have anti corruption laws. Infact, we do have some laws but they are not adequate in the face of new challenges arising out of corruption. As far as the seriousness of problem of corruption in our society is concerned, there is not a single day when we have not any news report about it. Roads and bridges are built but every soon they start to crack. Some people, who are in position to award licenses, are reported to have accepted bribe still they are not being punished. Others who hardly could afford sandals on their feet only a few years back are millionaires today. Corrupt behaviour has hardly spared even the saints (literally speaking). Some politicians who went under the fire of pain and sufferings during the Panchayat rule and sacrificed every thing to restore democracy in the country have also fallen victims to this disease. We all know that there are some people who are working in customs, immigration, revenue, construction, transport and communication sector and have amassed disproportionate wealth. Otherwise how can a clerk of some offices buy land and build houses in cities like Kathmandu in the face of soaring market prices. Does corrup0tion need to be "proved"?

There are a number of reasons responsible for corruption. According to the Mahadev Yadav committee on corruption that submitted its report last year, lack of love for nation, inadequacy of anti corruption law and weak implementation of it, criminalisation of politics, expensive general elections, politicization of administration, lack of an instinct among the politicians to become role model against corruption, political parties’ reluctance to control corruption, lack of people’s pressure are the main factors responsible for the rampant corruption in the country. Besides, the lack of option of government services, unnecessary expansion of government’s role and society’s reluctance of outcast corrupts are also responsible for this problem.

In the Civil Service Act, there is certainly a provision that requires the employees to show that his or her property is not disproportionate of his earnings. But this is not implemented at all. We shouldn’t misunderstand that poverty is the main cause of corruption. If that were the reality, developed countries wouldn’t have this problems and rich people would have not been involved in corruption. Examples are such where people even with mind-boggling property have found to be involved in big scandals of corruption. If the corruption is not controlled by legal means, it causes outburst of people’s anger that might take violent form. Since corruption raises the price of public sevices, goods increase poverty and degrade public life; it can lead a society and country to civil war or chaos. So, we all need to control corruption before the wrath of the public takes an ugly shape.

The Mahadev Yadav committee on corruption has, in order to effectively control corruption, among the other things, rightly suggested to confer the Commission Against the Abuse of Authority (CIAA) the right to freeze the bank account of the accused along with the right to arrest the suspected person and finally the right to make an appeal to the upper tiers of the court. Formulation of Notary Public act, separate law on contempt of court, impeachment law, establishment of national awareness center, establishment of special court to dispose the cases of corruption, to implement the citizen charter, and making public the names and identity of corrupt people and most importantly the scrapping of the provision of discretionary power of ministers and authorities to give quota, provide telephone lines and projects as suggested by Yadav committee could control the corruption to a great extent. We all know how discretionary power is misused in our country. An example of tax authority with discretionary power to collect tax is enough to understand the problem. In fact, tax officers are entitled to certify the amount of earnings of a professionals, business persons in a particular year and in practice some examples are such where they are reported to have certified very less amount of earning. This benefits both the givers and takers at the of government’s cost.

The Nepali Congress, though belatedly, has made a right decision by announcing that it will investigating NC MPs property. To know how fair its actions will be, and how honestly the corruption or those having unjustified property are punished, we need to wait. The suit, for other political parties, is worth following.

There may be a number of ways that can be followed to discourage corruption but one single panacea could be a mandatory provision according to which every public official should give the details of property, asset of his and his family members (particularly the close members) on a regular basis and disproportionate property should be forfeited terming it as corruption money. Another effective tool to check even if not to uproot corruption is ensuring transparency t every level. Besides, stringent punishment for the corrupt and its honest implementation can control the problem of corruption. There should not be a time limit to start prosecution against the corrupt. Only then the corrupt people will be deterred.

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• he Nepal Communist Party