Nepal makes minor headway in combating corruption

Corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) has ranked Nepal as 121st corrupt country scoring 2.7 points among 180 countries surveyed worldwide in its new report. TI had ranked Nepal in the 131 position with 2.5 points last year.

Despite improvement in tackling corruption Nepal still remains as a 'corrupt nation' as a country scoring below 5 points indicates serious corruption problem in the pubic sector. Only Bhutan scored points above 5 in south Asia.

The TI raised concern over poor action against corruption, instead rewarding those having accused of corruption in Nepal. 'Ex-ministers, such as Chrinjibi Wagle and Govinda Raj Joshi, who both have cases pending in the courts, have nonetheless been inducted into the legislature as parliamentarians," the report said.

It further adds, "Serial bank defaulters who willfully fail to pay back loans face no punitive action, although the Amatya Group was forced to pay back more than US$44 million," adding, "Warrants to arrest embezzlers and fraudsters are not acted upon."

TI said allegedly corrupt influential people are freed by the Special Court on flimsy pretexts. It is a situation in which the rule of law has been compromised and impunity prevails.

TI has also raised concern over prevailing corruption in Melamchi project, which could not complete in the last one and half decade. nepalnews.com ia Sep 23 08