Probing
The Income
NEPALESE people tired
of witnessing too many rags-to-riches happenings among the politicians and public servants
of the nation are pinning much hope on the newly-formed probe panel. There is a complete
consensus among all sections of the Nepalese society that one of the chief devils eating
into the vitals of this nation is corruption. With graft-taking a norm and public coffers
routinely plundered with complete impunity since always, even a semblance of good
governance has had difficulty taking roots. Governments and those who form them have for
years been talking of ridding the country of corruption. All politicians agree that
something has to be done about it. But the fact of the matter remains that over the years
very little has been achieved in earnestly addressing the problem. The public continues to
see the tentacles of corruption soaking what little resources we have. The Commission for
Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), for lack of enough teeth and for lack of
enough will, has not made much dent on this problem. In recent times, though, it has woken
up and tried to take some initiatives, but clearly its efforts so far have not resulted in
making a difference, given the sheer scale and magnitude of the problem. It may get a
shot-in-the-arm if the present government’s commitment to give the commission more
powers gets translated into action. It is against this background that the Judicial
Commission for Investigation of Property, headed by Bhairav Prasad Lamsal, is looked at by
the public as a panel that may finally give some knocks to this gargantuan problem. The
government deserves credit for forming such a high-level panel.
Chairman Lamsal told
mediapeople after being sworn in on Monday how his panel intends to go about the task. The
panel’s first task was to collect statements on properties registered in the names of
those falling under the already set criteria and their families and this would mark the
start of the commission’s work. Then, on the basis of the powers given by Enquiry
Commission Act, the commission would start investigation, prepare a list of those whose
property statements do not mention reasonable sources and submit a report to the
government along with the commission’s opinions. One concern expressed in some
quarters is whether the panel can finish the task within the six months that it has been
given. Chairman Lamsal was unambiguous in saying that the commission would complete the
task entrusted to it within the stipulated time. If the panel can come out with a detailed
report on those who have amassed wealth disproportionate to their legal sources of income
in six months’ time, it will have done a great service to the nation. Then, of
course, what governmental actions would follow these revelations would truly determine
whether incidences of corruption become less and less. For now, everybody should cooperate
with the commission as it goes about trying to probe the dirty income secrets.
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