Kathmandu. A five-member commission headed by former justice of the Supreme Court, Rajendra Kumar Bhandari, has been formed to investigate the property. The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers has given the mandate to the commission to carry out its work. 

According to the mandate, a detailed investigation has been initiated into the assets of the senior officials holding public office and retiring or demitting in the country and abroad. The mandate given by the government to the commission has given the authority to collect the property details of people’s representatives, security agencies, civil servants, diplomatic missions, constitutional bodies, governmentbanks, corporations, universities and their families and to investigate and and their families.

Who is under scrutiny?

The commission will investigate the properties of the Prime Minister, ministers, members of the Constituent Assembly, office-bearers of constitutional bodies, former judges, high-ranking officials of the Nepal Army, office-bearers of the provincial government, chiefs and deputy chiefs of local levels, employees of the embassy as well as high-level officials of the civil service, police, Armed Police Force and National Investigation Department ।

Similarly, from the governor to the executive director of NepalRastra Bank, the government-owned banks and the high officials of corporations, authorities, boards, committees, universities and grant-receiving bodies have also come under the scanner.Advisors of political leadership, personal secretaries and private secretaries would also be the subjects of the commission’s study.

The commission has been given the responsibility of conducting the property investigation in two phases. In the first phase, the financial year 2062/63 to 2082/83 will be collected and scrutinized in the second phase, while in the second phase, will be collected and investigated. 2048 to 2061/62 has been given a mandate to study the property.

How does the investigation take place?

The Commission will determine the assets by conducting a thorough analysis of the ancestral property , legal income source and the increase derived from it. In addition, the commission has been given the authority to investigate the assets hidden or sent abroad.

The investigation will be conducted in secrecy and the process will be carried out without affecting the personal and public dignity of the person concerned. The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (PMO) has issued a mandate to investigate with priority the employees who have received complaints, faced departmental action, have unnaturally high financial status, played the role of middlemen and have worked for a long time in sensitive bodies such as tax, revenue, land and transport.

If any official or employee has been found to have acquired property through corruption or illegal means, the Commission has been given the authority to prepare a detailed description of such property and recommend further investigation and action against the concerned body.If any complaint is received against the sitting judges or the Nepal Army, they have been asked to send the matter to the concerned body for investigation. In addition, the commission has been given the responsibility to identify people at high risk of corruption and determine the scope of investigation.