September 28: Government officials claim that the effectiveness of the Department of Revenue Investigation has grown immensely in the past two years after the prime minister took charge of the department.

The officials informed that the government employees were mostly involved in leakage of revenue. The government’s move to bring corrupt employees under investigations has resulted in better performance of the department.

According to the Department of Revenue Investigation, 11 of its employees were involved in leakage of revenue in the last two years and cases have also been filed against them. After coming under the prime minister's purview, the department has filed 190 cases against revenue leakage in a period of two years. The department claims that Rs 25.11 billion should be recovered in the case filed in the court against 621 people including 11 civil servants.

"There has been no pressure from any group in the investigation since it came under the Prime Minister's Office. We have not spared even the civil servants in the case of leakage," Gharaj Mainali, director general of the department, told New Business Age.

Mainali added that the investigation is focused on risky areas of revenue fraud and financial crimes. This has led to positive improvement in revenue collection by promoting integrity in revenue administration, he informed.

The department had settled cases involving Rs 9.83 billion within the first year it came under the Prime Minister's Office.