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The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has received numerous complaints against staffers and people's representatives of local units in Madhesh Province.

The Bardibas-based regional office of CIAA has jurisdiction over Siraha, Dhanusha, Mahottari, and Sarlahi of Madhesh Province; Okhaldhunga, Khotang, and Solukhumbu of Koshi Province; and Sindhuli and Ramechhap of Bagmati Province.

According to the office, it has received 442 from Dhanusha district which is the highest in Madhesh Province. Most of the complaints are related to irregularities in Janakpurdham Sub-Metropolitan City. Similarly, it has received 295 complaints from Siraha, 240 from Mahottari, and 236 from Sarlahi.

The majority of the complaints are against irregularities in local units. In fiscal year 2022/23 and the first month of 2023/24, a total of 1,145 complaints were received against local units. Of these, 65 have been resolved, while the remaining 1,080 are under investigation, according to the office.

Data from the regional office reveals that most of the complaints are related to irregularities in public procurement and construction, often involving collusion between staffers and elected people's representatives. “Preparing wrong estimates and specifications, splitting projects to favor contractors, making unnecessary procurements, subpar construction work, and the misuse of consumer committees to bypass laws and regulations are among the common issues mentioned in the complaints,” said Sunil Chaurasiya, a section officer at the regional office.

Additionally, there are complaints about administrative misconduct, corruption in training and capacity development, irregularities in service delivery, the use of counterfeit educational certificates and licenses, revenue leakage, and irregularities in the distribution of social security allowances, among other issues, Chaurasiya added.

Officials acknowledge that the regional office has been facing challenges in resolving cases promptly due to a backlog of cases. “Concerned offices often delay registration of our letters and take a significant amount of time to provide supporting documents. In some cases, they fail to submit any documents at all. These actions significantly impact our work,” Chaurasiya added. “When we attempt to contact the heads of the relevant offices by phone, they often do not respond.”

Chaurasiya said that investigations won’t not gain momentum if the constitutional anti-graft body does not receive the necessary support from public offices.

The Constitution of Nepal 2015 has granted the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) the authority to examine allegations of abuse of authority against public office-holders and their aides.

In its early years--before the 1990s—the CIAA had played an effective role in curbing corruption. Over the years, the effectiveness of the constitutional anti-corruption agency has taken a beating, thanks to its rampant politicization. This has increased distrust, of the ‘small fry’ in particular, toward the agency.

Apart from a shortage of qualified personnel, CIAA also faces financial and technical limitations. Notably, it relies on support from the Nepal Police as it does not have an independent enforcement team of its own. I don’t oppose political appointments within the CIAA, but it is crucial to appoint competent and trained individuals to boost its performance. The emphasis should be on appointing officials who can act fearlessly and produce results.

The author is a former CIAA commissioner

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) is delaying investigation into the alleged misuse of approximately Rs 4bn released for the salary and well-being of Maoist combatants kept in cantonments.

The investigation had remained dormant for nearly two years, during which the CIAA could only obtain expenditure details related to the Maoist combatants from the Ministry of Peace.

As per the information provided by the ministry to the CIAA, a total of Rs 9.79bn was spent on the salary and well-being of Maoist combatants over a span of nine years. Out of this amount, Rs 5.88bn was allocated solely for paying the salaries of these combatants. Additionally, Rs 2.76bn was utilized for logistics, Rs 261m for infrastructure development, and Rs 273.71m was allocated for other miscellaneous expenses, according to the letter sent by the ministry to the CIAA.

The CIAA took a policy decision to investigate the incident after it concluded that the funds released for Maoist combatants by the then Army Integration Special Committee had been misused. The individuals under investigation include former Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, former Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai, former Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara, and other Maoist commanders.

The Maoist party has been accused of embezzling tens of millions of rupees from the national treasury by creating fake combatants. Initially, there were 32,250 combatants in various cantonments after the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) was signed between the Maoist party and the government in 2006. However, the United Nations Mission to Nepal (UNMIN) verified only 18,500 of them as legitimate combatants. Subsequently, around 4,000 soldiers under the age of 18 were sent home. Even though UNMIN verified 19,600 as Maoist combatants, during the categorization process for integration into the Nepal Army or reintegration into society, only 17,074 combatants were present, approximately 3,000 less than the verified number.

Since the beginning of the peace process, over Rs 20bn has been spent on managing Maoist camps and supporting the combatants over a period of six years.

CIAA investigation has concluded that approximately 50 percent of the verified combatants were found to have been created solely for documentation purposes, intending to misuse state resources. The Maoist party has been accused of generating fake documents for around 3,000 soldiers who never actually existed, all in an effort to embezzle their salaries.

Complaints filed at CIAA state that salaries of about 6,000 soldiers have been embezzled over a period of nearly five years.