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KATHMANDU, April 17 (AFP) - Nepal's parliament passed an anti-corruption bill Wednesday that bars politicians convicted of graft from contesting elections for five years.

The 205-member lower house, or House of Representatives, had already passed the Corruption Control Bill earlier in the week and Wednesday unanimously approved amendments made by the upper house.

It will become law once it is given royal assent by King Gyanendra.

"According to the amended Corruption Control Bill, any minister, lawmaker -- elected or nominated -- and even officials in local bodies will be disqualified from contesting any sort of elections (for five years) if he or she is proved a defaulter by the court in any corruption charges," Bishnu Dutta Uprety, Parliamentary Secretariat spokesman, told AFP.

In recent years there have been concerns over government corruption and Prime Minster Sher Bahadur Deuba, who came to power last year, promised a crackdown.

"It is the first time since the reinstatement of multi-party democratic system in April 1990 an anti-graft bill has been passed which is expected to control corruption at various levels," advocate Ramesh Hari Upadhyay said.

The setting up of a Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) was also approved by parliament.

"This high power body will have the mandate of summoning ministers and the prime minister and penalizing them if found involved in corruption," a parliamentary secretariat official told AFP.

Deuba has already set up a commission to investigate the property of politicians and government officials.

Nepalese King Gyanendra later Wednesday closed the winter session of parliament.

The budgetary session of parliament is expected to start in the last week of June or early July. 

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