Forensic experts have said that the quality of the Finance Ministry’s CCTV footage had deteriorated as they had transferred the videos to multiple devices in order to check them.
The forensic lab of Nepal Police had on Monday submitted its report on the hard drive containing the CCTV footage of the Finance Ministry to the parliamentary special committee investigating budget tampering charges against former finance minister Janardan Sharma. Police had also provided multiple video clips of May 28 and May 29 recovered from the hard drive along with the report.
The committee had then invited two forensic experts from the police to discuss the report on Tuesday afternoon as the recovered video clips were not clear.
During the discussion, members of the committee had asked why the video clips were of poor quality and why even the date was not clear.
The experts answered that the video quality had deteriorated as they had checked the video clips by transferring them to multiple devices, according to a source in the committee.
The committee is currently holding a meeting to decide its next step.
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.
