Chief Commissioner of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Prem Kumar Rai, has responded to questions about an incident in which he and other commission officials were allegedly detained inside the prime minister’s secretariat.
During discussions at the House of Representatives’ State Affairs and Good Governance Committee on Thursday, lawmakers questioned Rai about reports that CIAA officials, including the chief commissioner, were kept inside Singha Durbar for seven hours and pressured by members of the prime minister’s secretariat to pursue cases against various individuals.
In response, Rai said that they had gone to the Prime Minister’s Office after Prime Minister Balen Shah invited them for discussions.
“The question is whether the prime minister called us regarding the passport matter. They can invite us for discussions. They can invite us to seek suggestions. They can call us to ask what has happened in the matter and what we are doing,” he said.
Rai said that the commission had acted accordingly after PM Shah asked them to expedite the process of pursuing the passport case.
“We went there and held discussions. He said it would be better if we looked into it and moved it forward and expedited it. We did so. That is why we proceeded with the case. The case has already been registered. Since prosecution has already been carried out, it can be viewed on the website. You can check it. One can check whether the prosecution was justified, whether there are any flaws, and to what extent,” he said.
Rai said that he did not want to go into much detail on the matter and proceeded to answer other questions.
RSP lawmaker Amaresh Kumar Singh had raised questions about the incident during the committee meeting.
Singh said that because the CIAA is a constitutional body, the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers had no right to exert any kind of pressure on it.
“Is the CIAA a constitutional body or a branch of the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers? Please make that clear,” he told the CIAA commissioners.
He argued that because the CIAA has the authority to investigate even the prime minister, its officials should not simply go when summoned by the prime minister and should instead ask for a formal letter.
“The dignity of the CIAA is being eroded. Just because someone is the prime minister does not make them a king. Lawmakers are not subjects,” Singh said.
