The main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) has raised two questions about the corruption case lodged with the Special Court by the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Wednesday.
The constitutional anti-graft body on Wednesday lodged corruption case against 175 individuals including Nepali Congress (NC) Vice-president and former deputy prime minister Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar, two other former ministers and its former chief Deep Basnet in Baluwatar land grab.
NC Spokesperson Bishwo Prakash Sharma organizing a press conference on Thursday has accused of government influence in the CIAA case. "An intention to save one's men and implicate others can be seen in this case under government influence," Sharma stated. "It is not the question of why Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar was charged but why those close to the government were selectively spared."
He asked why the prime ministers who led the council of ministers that included Gachchhadar as a minister were not charged. "You all know no Cabinet decisions are taken, rather no proposals are presented to the Cabinet or passed without the permission of prime minister in parliamentary system," he pointed. "Madhav Kumar Nepal was the prime minister once and Baburam Bhattarai the other time when Gachchhadar was minister. The current president was also a minister in the Nepal Cabinet. Why has a single minister been charged from such a big council of ministers by exempting the prime minister?"
He also raised question about why son of CPN General Secretary Bishnu Paudel was not charged.
"Other countries should not read this as Nepal has set a new precedent wherein one gets exemption after returning land," he commented. "Everyone knew that Paudel's son Navin owned a plot of land in Baluwatar. Can there be a law which exempts the guilty for offering to return? If it is so a dacoit can offer to repay the looted money with interest after two years and avoid jail."
He claimed that NC formulated the law to make CIAA powerful and added that the current government has made the anti-graft body the government's shadow.
