A meeting of the PHSC held at Singha Durbar unanimously endorsed the nominations of Deep Kumar Basnet, Nabin Ghimire, Sabitri Gurung, Dr Ganesh Raj Joshi and Raj Narayan Pathak after concluding their hearings.
While the hearings for Ghimire and Basnet were conducted on Sunday, the other nominees for commissioners went through their hearings on Monday. The nominees for CIAA commissioners have vowed to make the investigation mechanisms of the anti-grant body stronger to control corruption in the country more effectively.
The nominees, in the course of their hearings on Sunday and Monday, maintained that political will is necessary to control corruption. They have vowed to take action against 'big fish', something many critics say the CIAA has failed to do so far.
Responding to the queries of lawmakers on Sunday, commissioner-nominee Basnet said since the current structure does not ensure effective investigations he would try first of all to strengthen the investigation mechanisms. "Most of the cases filed by the CIAA these days are defeated in court due to lack of adequate evidence, and my first priority will be to impart skills to the staff and strengthen the investigation work," he said.
Basnet also said that he will put in effort to ensure coordination with other similar government bodies such as the National Vigilance Center and Revenue Investigation Department to curb corruption. "I have been hearing complaints that the CIAA did not take action against the big fish and only goes after small fry. I will now ensure that even big fish are not spared," he further said.
Likewise, another commissioner-nominee, Nabin Ghimire, said he will create an environment where public officials not involved in corruption will have no reason to fear the CIAA. "We will enhance the investigation capacity. The big fish may not have been arrested as the CIAA was yet to get full shape. But once the CIAA gets full shape, we will spare neither big fish nor small fry," he said.
Ghimire maintained that there has been a problem in the investigation of corruption as there is a growing tendency of the political leadership to take decisions through the cabinet. The CIAA cannot investigate decisions taken by the cabinet.
Lawmakers on the hearings committee had complained that the CIAA had terrorized innocent people, interfered in the government's policy level decisions and failed to take action against those involved in large scale corruption.
As most of the CIAA commissioner-nominees are former bureaucrats, the lawmakers asked if they would enjoy both their pernsions and their salaries, perks and and other benefits as CIAA commissioners. "It is not good to talk about ideal things here. If you make a new law that bars the enjoyment of such privileges, we will abide by that," said Raj Narayan Pathak.
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