Nepali Congress (NC) President and former prime minister (PM) Sher Bahadur Deuba has claimed he is not involved in the irregularities in procurement of two wide-body planes by the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) pointing the bids were invited when Pushpa Kamal Dahal was PM and the planes procured when KP Sharma Oli was at the helm.
"I was overseeing 19 ministries when I was PM. I had recently become PM and don't know what happened in each ministry," Deuba argued addressing a press conference in Dhangadi on Monday. "I did not make minister-level decision. It was not my right either. I do not know if something happened without my knowledge."
He complained that dragging his name in the episode is unfair. "One cannot associate a person without any reason. This is injustice," he stated. "The government decided to provide guarantee when Dahal was PM. I did not take any decision. Why am I being accused?"
He also slammed the government for failing to book those involved in rape and murder of Nirmala Panta of Kanchanpur, and urged the government to fulfill the demands of Dr Govinda KC who is staging his 16th-fast-unto-death in Ilam..
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the parliament has recommended suspension of General Manager (GM) of NAC Sugat Ratna Kansakar and Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Krishna Prasad Devkota for their involvement in corruption of Rs 4.3556 billion during the procurement of two wide-body planes.
The government has also formed a probe commission to investigate the procurement process giving a 45-day deadline. The PAC has instructed the government and the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to implement the report before the commission submit its report.
It has also recommended investigation and action against former tourism secretary Shankar Adhikari and NAC board members involved in the procurement process. It has also found moral responsibility of Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikari and his predecessors Jitendra Narayan Dev and Jeevan Bahadur Shahi in the case.
