Why do leaders fear to declare their wealth?
The wealth of high-ranking government officials including the prime minister remains one of the best-kept secrets in Nepal. And it is this very nature of secrecy that sometimes gives rise to rumors that they possess wealth beyond their means, or they have large stakes in businesses. Such rumors will continue to circulate so long as the leaders and senior government top brass refuse to disclose their assets while serving in public positions. According to the Anti-Corruption Act 2002, prime minister, ministers, elected representatives and government employees should declare their properties within 60 days of joining office, but most do not. It’s been more than 100 days since Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal came to power, but his office has yet to publish his property details. The website of the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers shows it has received the property details of Dahal and some ministers without going into the particulars. It could be argued that the majority of the members in the Dahal Cabinet have not disclosed their assets because they were appointed only recently. But if the past is anything to go by, they are unlikely to do so. Dahal’s predecessor, Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress, and his Cabinet members had also failed to submit their property details. Although Dahal had declared his properties during his previous term in 2017, he had done so only after intense public pressure. The asset disclosure rule was introduced after the restoration of democracy in 1990 in an effort to promote financial transparency. There are two bodies to look after the property of every person who holds public office: Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) and National Vigilance Center (NVC). But they never dare to ask government ministers and senior government officials to furnish their property details. The rule, however, states that failure to disclose property within the extended deadline could result in a fine of up to Rs 5,000 and an investigation into the properties held by the concerned individual. Anti-corruption activists say the anti-graft bodies should show some teeth and investigate the properties of government ministers and high-level officials if they refuse to disclose their assets. They say it is the only way to discourage corruption and financial crimes. As Nepal ranks among one of the most corrupt countries in the world, the need for a powerful anti-corruption agency is all the more necessary. Land grabbing, illegal selling of public land, and amassing of illegal wealth are ever increasing in Nepal, according to the CIAA. There have been cases in which senior ministers, government officials, and their close relatives have been accused of their direct involvement of aiding and abetting such crimes. The Lalita Niwas land-grab incident is one prime example in which the involvement of several politicians and government officials has been suspected. The incident also highlights the serious problem of politician-criminal nexus in the country. But large-scale corruption scandals involving senior government ministers and officials are rarely investigated, let along prosecuted in Nepal. Anti-corruption crusaders and organizations say several top leaders and bureaucrats live the life of unimaginable luxury, which cannot be justified by their income source. Even lawmakers, local and provincial government representatives, and government staff members are reluctant to submit their property details. In the current House of Representatives, eleven members have yet to furnish their property details to the Parliament Secretariat. The parliament members were sworn in on 22 December 2022 and as per rule, they were supposed to disclose their assets by February 19. As per Section 50 (1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2002, and Section 31 (A) 1 of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Act, individuals holding public positions are required to submit their property details to the respective offices within 60 days of their appointment. Additionally, they are also required to disclose the source of the property mentioned in the property details. According to the Parliament Secretariat, Mohan Bahadur Basnet, Ajay Kumar Chaurasia, Uday Shumsher JBR, Manorama Sherchan, and Tek Bahadur Gurung of Nepali Congress, Rajkumar Gupta and Laxmi Mahato Koiri of CPN-UML, Barshaman Pun of CPN (Maoist Center), Pashupati Shumsher JBR of Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Met Mani Chaudhary of CPN (Unified Socialist), and Mahindra Raya Yadav of Nepal Samajbadi Party have failed to comply with the asset disclosure law. The secretariat is preparing to forward the names of these lawmakers to the NVC with a recommendation to initiate legal action against them. The NVC is the government agency tasked with the responsibility of overseeing whether government employees are furnishing their property details as required by the law. According to the agency, 2.72 percent of government employees and officials did not submit their property details in the fiscal year 2020/21. During the review period, 13,844 federal government employees, 263 provincial governments employees, and 4,064 local government employees did not submit their property statements. In the fiscal year 2019/20, 2.81 percent of government staffers had failed to furnish their property details. In the case where a government staff member fails to furnish his or her property details within the given time frame, the NVC forwards the name of the concerned officer to the CIAA recommending investigation. It is the job of the CIAA to investigate the property of the government officer in question.
