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Following The Money

The staggering amount of unsettle accounts mirrors the scale of corruption in the country

By AKSHAY SHARMA

The recent report by the Auditor-General Department (AGD) presents an unsettled account of Rs 26.4 billion, which represents 6.60 percent of the total audited amount of Rs 122 billion this year. Add the unsettled amount of Rs 12.1 billion of other bodies like governmental organizations, District Development Committees and other committees, and you get the alarming amount of Rs 38.42 billion.

Despite repeated affirmations, the government has failed to maintain fiscal discipline. The Ministry of Finance, which spearheads the nation's financial activities, tops the list with 38.79 percent of the unsettled amount. It is followed by the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, and the Ministry of Water Resources with 10.47 and 10.3 percent respectively.

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The report suggests that the institutions have been openly disregarding the basic economic discipline and the instruction for the auditing of AGD. "This states that the lack of decision making at political and administrative levels," said Dr Badri Prasad Shrestha, a prominent economist. "Although it cannot be called corruption in the true sense, but looking at the scenario of not keeping the accounts on time shows signs of corruption," he added.

But corruption is a worthy rival of the oldest profession in the world. The ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Hebrew, Chinese, Greek and the Roman empires, too, were infested with corruption and the "varying degree of this malady, and some were destroyed by it. The Rig Veda has several references to corruption. And in the Old Testament (The Book of Exodus) it is said, "Beware of accepting bribes; they blind even the prudent, and disturb the judgment of the even just." Corruption fueled the French and Russian revolutions, and the Kuomintang regime of China collapsed unable to bear the strain of the burden.

But how does one define corruption? It is certainly something easily observed than defined. A 1997 World Bank report describes it "as the abuse public power for private gain." In his book, "The Pathology of Corruption" S.S. Gill writes, "Corruption violates the public trust and corrodes social capital." In Nepal, it has distorted the planning and development processes, and nullified such development programs as poverty eradication.

Kautilya has put the scourge in the oldest terms in his "Arthasasthra": "[W]ealth and wealth alone, is important, in as much as dharma and kama (desire) depends upon artha for their realization."

Kantipur daily reported this week that ministries had misused funds amounting to more than s 10 billion. "The amount given by donor agencies for the betterment to the Ministry of Education has been misused. There is also a wide variety of items like electric fans, computers, fax machines, printers, bikes etc have been taken by the top brass in the ministry for their personal use."

According to the law of the commission of financial assets, any office that has been dismissed by the government in 35 days has to submit all the financial and the items that have a financial value. The government has to have the right to know about these matters and take it into their possession.

According to Kantipur, "The top officials have declined to state what items have received. These items were made available to the ministry seven years ago when there were talks of improving the educational standards at the primary education by the Japanese organizations like JICA and the World Bank. This physical asset in the Ministry of Education is worth more than Rs 100 million."

Sources claim that JICA had provided eight trucks, three tractors, more than 30 kilograms of iron and other materials along with furniture. These items have been recklessly left in the Ministry. There are 23 motorcycles missing, sources confirm.

A commission looked into the affair and submitted its report a month ago. "The value of the items and its numbers are unaccountable," said the deputy director of the commission, Chuman Singh Basnyet. "As these items had fallen into the hands of the people working there, we have asked them to return them in a month. And it is hard to preserve these items and that is why most of these items lie unused and uncared for."

"Among the program for free primary and secondary education, of the 96 commissions that look into these affairs 37 of them have not preserved the materials they have received," Singh adds. And, according to the report, the officials in the ministry are using 16 motors and eight bikes.

Despite the government's commitment to fight corruption, it still remains a major challenge to policy makers. Moreover, as old as the tradition of corruption is, it will be a daunting task to curb it.