Int'l Anti-Corruption Day observed

Senior advocate Krishna Prasad Bhandary said at a programme organised on the International Anti-Corruption Day that he paid Rs. 30 million bribe to political leaders for the establishment of Kathmandu Medical College.

Different programmes were organised to mark UN Anti-Corruption Day on Saturday. The Anti-Corruption Day is being celebrated since the last two years on December 9 to mark the passing of the International Convention Against Corruption by the United Nations.

At a programme organised by Pro-Public, Keshab Badal of CPNUML said the government should bring the property and income of every citizen within the tax bracket if corruption is to be minimised.Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of the parliament Chitra Bahadur KC said that corruption had not reduced because government officials and political leaders were involved in.Suresh Ale Magar of the Maoist party put his party's stance that there would be corruption until there is capitalist system. He called for the nationalisation of all private property if corruption is to be abolished.

But Dr. Upendra Devkota said the modern concept of property also includes a person's intellect, thus, the traditional concept of nationalisation of private property would not control corruption.A poll conducted by Pro-Public found that 62 per cent of the respondents say that they participated in the popular movement to end the Maoist insurgency and to establish a corruption free state mechanism.

At another programme on the anti-corruption day, Speaker of the House of Representatives Subash Nemwang said that fight against corruption should start from the top and the main issues should be transparency and accountability.

He said Nepal should ratify the convention against corruption.At the programme, organised by Journalist Group Against Corruption Nepal, Bhim Bahadur Tamang of Nepali Congress said that corruption was encouraged because of incapability of the political leaders and the activities of the party's sister organizations also promoted corruption.

Other speakers talked about amending out concept on corruption, developing system of taking decision collectively, improving the election system, and even reaching more women in the decision-making level.