Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has admitted that higher echelon of politics and civil service are mainly responsible for corruption taking place in different sectors of public life.

"I must mention about the bitter truth here that upper echelons of politics and the civil administration are the source of corruption. Political leadership is even more responsible," PM Bhattarai said while addressing a function marking the establishment day of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) in the capital on Saturday.

He further said, "This is very unfortunate that politics that should be serving the nation and the people is becoming a tool to make personal financial gains." PM Bhattarai also said the corruption at the higher level must be curbed in order to reduce corruption at the lower level.

"I am fully committed to keep politics free of corruption. I believe that good governance can be ensured only when politics is kept free from corruption," Bhattarai said, adding that the current government would introduce programmes to turn Nepal into a country with low corruption rate. nepalnews.com