The forensic lab of Nepal Police has recovered the Finance Ministry’s closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of May 28 and May 29.
The Finance Ministry had claimed that the CCTV footage of those two days had been automatically deleted as the hard drive could store footage of only 13 days.
The parliamentary special committee investigating budget tampering charges against former finance minister Janardan Sharma had then sent the hard drive containing the ministry’s CCTV footage to the forensic lab of Nepal Police to ascertain whether outsiders had entered the ministry on the night of May 28 and whether footage of May 28 and May 29 could be recovered.
The lab submitted its report on the hard drive to the committee on Monday. The report was opened during the committee’s meeting on Tuesday.
“The committee has received the report of recovered videos. We have not been able to watch the videos. The videos will be watched in the presence of experts today,” said lawmaker Sitaram Mahato, a member of the committee.
The lab has submitted a number of video clips of May 28 and May 29 along with the report to the committee.
Surendra Aryal, secretary of the committee, said that the committee has invited experts to be clear on technical matters.
“The lab report is of a technical nature, we have invited experts to be clear about it,” said Aryal.
Sharma has been accused of inviting unauthorized persons to the Finance Ministry to tweak tax rates at the time of finalizing the budget on the night of May 28. He has denied the allegations.
During a three-hour-long questioning by the committee last Thursday too, Sharma refuted the charges and advised the committee to ask security persons and marshals if the members did not believe him.
He also expressed ignorance about the CCTV footage and suggested that the committee consult experts on the matter.
Sharma resigned on July 6 after the 11-member parliamentary committee was formed to investigate allegations against him.
The committee’s term was extended by seven days after its initial deadline ended last Thursday.
