Kathmandu. The Abuse of Authority Investigation Commission has presented its various suggestions on the bill to amend the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2059. The suggestions were presented at the meeting of the State Order and Good Governance Committee under the House of Representatives on Thursday. The commission has submitted its suggestions to the committee on 10 different points.
In the discussion on the amendment bill of the Prevention of Corruption Act 2059 in the State Order and Good Governance Committee meeting of the House of Representatives on Thursday, Prem Kumar Rai, the head of the authority, submitted his suggestions to the committee on 10 points regarding the limit.
Presenting the suggestion, Chief Commissioner Rai said that the Parliament should decide on keeping a 5-year time limit for investigating corruption cases. He said, “It has been proposed that no case be filed after five years of the retirement of any employee or official and no statute of limitations.” In Section 13 of the original Act, the limitation period was five years. This arrangement has now been proposed to match that. There will never be a limit if there is loss or damage to government property. If there is no damage and there is nothing wrong, the time limit is five years. We have no opinion on this matter. We are of the opinion that the honorable parliament and the committee should discuss and study the possible effects.
Rai said that the proposal to amend the proposed bill to amend the definition of the term public organization mentioned in Clause (c) of Section 2 of the Basic Law is not necessary. In order to address this, it is proposed by the authority that the words “…..or union organization” should be added at the end of sub-section (4) of clause (c) under point number 2 of the report passed by the National Assembly.
Similarly, the authority has proposed that if the public servant invests in real estate, business, securities abroad, opens a bank account or invests in other areas or becomes a shareholder, the authority should be punished. Similarly, the proposed section 16 of the original Act. The Authority has suggested that instead of 5 years of imprisonment, it should be changed to 3 years of imprisonment, and that only business done through financial institutions should be recognized.
