Bicycle scandal in Madhesh Pradesh

On 2 August 2022, Nepal’s anti-graft agency, Commission for Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed corruption charges in the Special Court against more than half a dozen public officials and the supplier firm Om Satya Sai Pvt Ltd based in Birgunj, Madhesh Pradesh. Charges related to misuse and loss of public funds, totalling Rs 103 million, over the procurement of 17,238 bicycles from India.

The charges have come at a time when newly federated Nepal is mulling over how centralized anti-graft agencies should operate under decentralizing corruption situation. The Madhesh Pradesh (earlier called Province 2) has enacted Janlokpal Act 2077 - a legal arrangement to ensure good governance, accountability and integrity at the provincial level. Due to decades of conflict and political instability, one distinct feature of FDR Nepal is the general rise in local-level corruption. It is yet to be seen how local level corruption will be tackled in the days to come though the new constitution makes provision for establishing Provincial Investigating Bureaus (PBIs). It could be something akin to establishing provincial-level CIAA.