POKHARA, Oct 11: The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has arrested Joint Attorney at Kaski District Prosecutor's Office Surendra Thapa, while taking a bribe of Rs 500,000 from a service seeker on Wednesday.
The arrest comes as part of the anti-graft body's crackdown on corruption at various government bodies. According to Spokesperson at the CIAA regional office in Pokhara, Ramesh Dhakal, CIAA officials acting on a tip-off caught Thapa red-handed at his office premises .
The CIAA has taken Thapa into custody for further investigations. Thapa is said to have asked for the bribe from a Kapilvastu local to settle a fraud case involving the latter's son. Thapa was promising that the case would be prevented from getting to the Supreme Court.
CIAA files case against senior govt attorney Thapa
Earlier on Tuesday, Khyam Narayan Paudel and Sanjaya Sharma, two officials at Kaski Land Revenue Office , were arrested by the CIAA while taking a bribe of Rs 50,000 at their office premises.Sting operations a compulsion: CIAA chief Ghimire
Chief Commissioner of the CIAA Nabin Kumar Ghimire on Wednesday said that sting operations by the anti-graft body were a compulsion and not a matter of choice.
Addressing a function for the inauguration of the CIAA Pokhara office building, Ghimire said, “Sting operations by the commission are not its wish but a compulsion because local offices are dens of corruption. If sting operations are carried out at the inland revenue and land revenue offices, these offices may be emptied of its officials.” He added that complaints have been registered against 15 officials at a single district level office .
At the function, Ghimire said complaints against the recently formed local bodies have seen a surge in recent days. He said the surge was observed after the local bodies embarked on the business of law-making .
“Previously, a majority of the complaints were about the education sector,” he said. “We know that the local bodies are in a transition period but they will not be spared stringent action if they are found guilty of corruption.”
