Nepal committed to ratify UN Convention against Corruption: Minister Gurung
Minister for Law, Justice and Constituent Assembly, Dev Gurung, on Tuesday
said that the government is fully committed towards ratifying the United
Nations Convention against Corruption.
Speaking at a programme organised by Commission for Investigation of Abuse
of Authority (CIAA) on the occasion of UN Anti-Corruption Day, Minister
Gurung said that the government would identify those people who have
stacked away (in foreign countries) the money they illegally amassed in
Nepal and take stern action against them.
Likewise, CIAA acting chief Lalit Bahadur Limbu requested the government
to immediately ratify the UNCC, saying that the delay in this matter has
greatly tarnished Nepal's international image.
He also bemoaned the Commission's inability to play an effective role in
checking corruption with the government not ratifying the UNCC despite the
country being signatory to it five years ago.
At the same programme, Madhav Poudel, secretary at the Ministry of Law,
Justice and Constituent Assembly Affairs presented a concept paper in
which he stressed the need for Nepal to formulate new laws so as to fully
implement the UN Convention against Corruption.
Poudel said that new laws needs to be formulated on 14 different topics
and similarly more than 18 existing laws related to corruption also needs
to be amended for this.
He also insisted upon the need to make institutional improvements as well
as necessary policy changes if the government is serious in this regard.
The government is yet to define private-sector corruption, making it more
challenging to root out corruption from the private sector, he added.
Poudel was also of the opinion that the poor implementation of law was a
major hindrance in fighting corruption in the country.
Nepal has signed but has not yet ratified the UN Convention against
Corruption. nepalnews.com ag Dec 09 08
