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Country reports: Asia and the Pacific
Nepal
Corruption Perceptions Index 2008: 2.7 (121st out of 180 countries) Conventions ADB–OECD Anti-Corruption Action Plan for Asia-Pacific (endorsed November 2001) UN Convention against Corruption (signed December 2003; not yet ratified) UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (signed December 2002; not yet ratified)
Legal and institutional changes ● The Right to Information Act 2007 seeks to give free public access to any information related to the public interest, thereby maintaining transparency, accountability and respect for the people’s right to be informed. With the exception of information specifically categorised as confidential, all Nepalese are guaranteed free access to public information. Five categories of information are exempt from disclosure requirements: security and foreign policy, criminal investigations, commercial and banking privacy, ethnic or communal relations, and personal privacy (including that which threatens life, property, health and security). ● The Special Court in Nepal was established in 2002 to handle corruption cases. Due to the slow pace of legal proceedings, however, cases are piling up in the court. In order to speed up the process, amendments were made to the Special Court Act 2002 allowing the court to be flexible in determining the number of sitting judges required instead of being limited to the existing three. ● The Banking Offence Act 2007 was promulgated to control and mitigate the risks and impacts associated with, and to enhance public trust in, banking and financial trans-
actions. Offences punishable under the act include unauthorised involvement in banking transactions, fraud in electronic transactions, the misuse of bank loans and credits, tampering with accounting books, fraud in the valuation of assets, and irregularities in banking and financial transactions. Depending on the scale of the transaction, penalties range from three months’ to four years’ imprisonment. ● The Anti-Money Laundering Act 2008 was enacted in January 2008. The law opens up avenues to combat corruption cases involving property amassed through illegal means, including tax evasion, smuggling, investment in terrorist acts and other crimes punishable under international treaties and conventions signed by the government. The act lays the groundwork for ratifying the UNCAC. Nepal is a signatory to the UNCAC but ratification has been pending due to the country’s political situation. ● The Good Governance Act 2008 was enacted in February 2008. The law’s objective is to make public administration more people-oriented, accountable, transparent and participatory. Some of the good governance and anti-corruption clauses include the development of a code of conduct for public servants, methods for resolving conflicts of interest, mandatory public hearings and social audits, complaint-handling