CPN General Secretary Bishnu Paudel, who has been implicated in the Balwuatar land grab, has said he is ready to face punishment if found guilty.
Taking part in the discussion on the government's policies and programs in the House of Representatives (HoR) on Monday, Paudel has also demanded serious investigation into the scam.
"News reports have been published in recent times taking the names of myself and former prime ministers Sher Bahadur Deuba, Madhav Kumar Nepal and Baburam Bhattarai. I have already revealed the facts about the matter issuing press statements," he pointed. "I welcome the government decision to take back the government land illegally transferred to the name of individuals."
He also urged the government to reveal the facts and truths behind the Lalita Residence scam. "I demand for stringent legal action against the guilty. And I want to make it clear that I am ready to face all kinds of punishments if found guilty."
Paudel has been dragged in the encroachment of government land in Baluwatar with eitgh annas of the grabbed land transferred in the name of his son Navin.
Some CPN leaders citing the then prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal have told Setopati that Paudel facilitated Cabinet decisions to provide grounds for the land grab and had even arranged donation of Rs 40 million to the party in return for the decisions.
The probe committee formed by the government under former secretary Sharada Prasad Trital has called the Cabinet decisions illegal and recommended their revocation.
The committee had submitted the report to the government in December 2018 concluding that the land transferred to individuals belonged to the government.
The committee had advised the government to ask the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police to investigate how ownership of the land was transferred to individuals and investigate the state of such government land across the country.
The committee stated that the then king Mahendra after the coup in 1961 had confiscated 14 ropanis land of Nepali Congress leader Suvarna Shumsher Rana and his father Kanchan Shumsher in Baluwatar. The government four years later acquired 285 ropanis of Rana's land in Baluwatar by paying compensation.
The PM's residence, chief justice's residence, speaker's residence and the central office of Nepal Rastra Bank are currently situated in 172 ropanis out of that 285 ropanis.
Land mafia in connivance with staffers at the Land Revenue Office has transferred ownership of the remaining 113 ropanis of land to different individuals, the committee has concluded. The land owned by Paudel is out of that 113 ropanis.
