Finance Secretary Madhu Marasini has taken leave at a time of widespread calls for investigation on Finance Minister Janardan Sharma.
He has said that he will not come to the ministry on Wednesday and Thursday pointing that he is unwell, according to his secretariat, but how long he will remain on leave is not certain. “He was at the office until five Tuesday evening. He has said that he will not come to the office on Wednesday and Thursday as he is unwell,” a staffer at his secretariat told Setopati.
Minister Sharma is accused of bringing former nayab subba (non gazetted first class employee of the government) Raghunath Ghimire to the ministry at the time of finalizing the budget May 28 night to change tax rates. Secretary Marasini was also reportedly at the ministry when the former nayab subba unlawfully entered the ministry.
The ministry’s bureaucratic leadership has also been criticized for connivance with Minister Sharma after it gave an irresponsible response stating that the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of the ministry can be retained only for 13 days in the right to information (RTI) request filed seeking CCTV footage of the ministry at the alleged time of the crime.
Questions have been raised about integrity of Secretary Marasini for not acting in accordance to the high standards expected of an officer of his position when an unauthorized person allegedly entered the ministry and changed tax rates, and for not keeping the CCTV footage safe.
