The Forensic Science Laboratory of Nepal Police has submitted its report on the hard drive containing closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of the Finance Ministry to the parliamentary special committee formed to investigate charges of budget tampering against former finance minister Janardan Sharma.
The committee will hold discussions on the report submitted by the forensic lab during its meeting scheduled for Tuesday, said committee member Sitaram Mahato.
The committee had sent the hard drive containing the Finance Ministry’s CCTV footage to the forensic lab for investigation after it could not obtain the film footage of May 28 and May 29.
The Finance Ministry had said that it did not have CCTV footage of those two days as the system can store film footage of only 13 days.
When asked about it during a three-hour-long questioning on Sunday, Sharma expressed ignorance and suggested that the committee consult experts on the matter.
The committee on Sunday sought CCTV footage of Singha Durbar’s south and east gates as it could not reach a conclusion on the basis of the finance ministry’s film footage.
Sharma has been accused of inviting unauthorized persons to the Finance Ministry to change tax rates at the time of finalizing the budget on the night of May 28. He has denied the allegations.
Sharma resigned on July 6, the same day the 11-member parliamentary committee was formed to investigate the allegations against him.
The committee’s term was extended by seven days after its initial deadline expired last Thursday. The committee is working to complete its investigation within the given time.
