Nepal

Kathmandu, August 18

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority has said that cases related to fake academic credentials top the list of charge-sheets filed at the Special Court since the establishment of the anti-graft body, 29 years ago.

The CIAA was established in 1991. According to the anti-graft body, it filed as many as 2,437 cases at the court against civil servants, teachers and police personnel, among others, during the period. Annual average of the graft cases stand at around 84. The cases filed at the court remained 351, which is four times more than the average number.

On the subject-wise filing of cases, fake academic credentials outnumber other cases like those on corruption and irregularities, in the past 29 years. Statistics provided by the CIAA showed that it dealt with 1,106 cases of fake credentials, followed by bribery (487) and amassing disproportionate asset (102). However, cases of fake documents stood second in fiscal 2018-19, numbering 89, after bribery (147).

According to the CIAA, the tendency of submitting fake academic credentials, including teaching licences and citizenship certificates, for joining government service, getting promotion and receiving government facilities is rampant in public offices. Appointing, promoting and providing facilities to any person on the basis of bogus or forged academic certificates and other documents badly affect performance and service delivery of government offices. It is also detrimental to the morale of qualified and capable employees. A recent report of the CIAA said that it had accorded high priority to investigate suspicious academic credentials of government employees. An investigation by the anti-graft body showed that most of the employees submitting fake credentials were school teachers and police personnel. Health workers, technical and administrative employees of local levels were also among the persons who joined government services to benefit from promotions and other facilities by submitting fake documents. The CIAA has urged the government and the authorities concerned to verify the authenticity of academic credentials of the candidates applying for government jobs to ensure that only genuine candidates are selected for the government.

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Kathmandu, August 18

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli held a meeting with Co-chair of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba today, on the premises of the Parliament in Baneshwor, to expedite transitional justice process.

The recommendation committee formed to nomi-nate office bearers of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Com-mission of Investigation of Enforced Disappeared Per-sons, is yet unable to nomi-nate the office bearers. The committee has not been able to nominate office bear-ers due to lack of green sig-nal from major political par-ties.

PM Oli held consultations with Deuba and Dahal after delivering speech in the House of Representatives, where he said he would ex-pedite process of appointing office bearers in the two transitional mechanisms. Deubapersonal aide Bha-nu Deuba said the three leaders met briefly at the Parliament building and de-cided to discuss the issues in detail on Thursday.

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Kathmandu, August 18

Jhalanath Khanal has become the most powerful leader after Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal in the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP), in a major blow to senior NCP leader Madhav Kumar Nepal.

The decision to elevate Khanal in the partyhierarchy was taken by NCPcentral secretariat meeting held today at the prime ministerresidence.

Until now, Nepal was the most powerful leader in the party after the two co-chairs, Oli and Dahal. But with todaydecision, Nepal has tumbled a notch behind Khanal in the partyhierarchy.

&Nepal sees his demotion as an attempt to alienate him in the NCP and calls it a ploy designed by two co-chairs of the party,& a leader close to Nepal told THT. According to the source, he told todaymeeting that the party should embrace ‘one person, one post& principle, taking a jibe at Oli, who is the head of the party as well as the government.

Tension had been simmering between Khanal and Nepal since the establishment of the NCP in May 2018.

Right after the NCP was formed following the merger of CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre, Nepal was ranked third in the party hierarchy after the two co-chairs. At that time, Khanal had expressed dissatisfaction over Nepalranking in the party and had submitted a note of dissent in the partycentral secretariat. Khanal had argued that he should be placed ahead of Nepal in the NCPhierarchy, as he was the most senior leader after Oli in the erstwhile CPN-UML. But the NCP central secretariat did not consider Khanalrequest at that time.

However, Khanal raised the same issue during Fridaycentral secretariat meeting and the partytwo co-chairs agreed to reconsider his request.

&If the NCP intends to follow the hierarchy of erstwhile CPN-UML as proposed by Khanal, then the party should appoint Bhim Rawal, Astha Laxmi Shakya and Yubaraj Gyawali as vice-chairpersons because they were vice-presidents in the erstwhile CPN-UML,& Nepal was quoted as saying during todaymeeting.

Todaydecision is likely to sow seeds for further political infighting, as Nepal is considered an influential leader in the party.

• Heads of 22 sister wings appointed

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Kathmandu, August 17

Police raided three different places in Kathmandu and arrested 24 persons for their alleged involvement in illegal gambling yesterday.

Seven persons were held from a Kapan-based dairy store run by Badri Prasad Sapkota of Kavre. Police arrested six persons from an eatery operated by Niraj Rai of Khotang.

Similarly, 11 persons, including Druba Bahadur Karki were held from Muhan Pokhari of Budhanilkantha. Cash amounting to Rs 48,860 and gambling materials were confiscated from these gambling dens.

Six persons were held from an eatery run by Mina Lama in Jorpati of Gokarneshwor Municipality-5, on Thursday.

In another raid, police rounded up five persons from Bouddha-based Himalayan Sherpa Kitchen, a restaurant.

They seized Rs 21,940 and cards from the gambling den.

Of late, police have stepped up crackdown on gambling, which is punishable under existing laws.

Rani Pokhari-based Metropolitan Police Office, which oversees security of Kathmandu valley, said as many as 164 gambling dens were dismantled and 324 persons were arrested in the past four months since mid-April.

Police also confiscated around Rs 8.2 million in cash and a huge cache of gambling materials from the gambling berths.

After police intensified vigilance on casinos to curb the entry of Nepali gamblers there, the number of people visiting casinos has decreased.

The law bars Nepali citizens from entering casinos for gambling.

However, casino frequenters have now switched to gambling dens and converted hotels, restaurants, eateries, auto workshops, pubs, bars and private offices and houses into gambling spots, said Senior Superintendent of Police ShyamLalGyawali, MPO spokesperson.

All metropolitan police ranges, circles and sectors have formed anti-gambling squads in their concerned areas to swing into action whenever they receive a tip-off.

Neighbours, wives and family members of the gamblers are among the key informants, who tip off local police about these gambling dens.

Retired government employees, businesspersons and contractors top the list of gamblers.

Gamblers are booked under Gambling Act-1963, which officials say is not stringent enough to deter seasoned gamblers and operators of gambling dens as they easily get off the hook by paying a meagre fine of Rs 200 and four-day police custody the first that they get caught.

According to police, gambling and crime are interlinked. Crimes are also likely to occur at gambling venues over betting. It is also one of the reasons of domestic violence. Gambling is all-pervasive during major festivals such as Dashain and Tihar.

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