The government has reinstated Sudan Gurung as home minister just 49 days after he resigned amid controversy over the source of his assets.
The government administered the oath of office to Gurung unilaterally, without releasing the report of the probe committee formed to investigate his assets.
It is standard practice to disclose the findings of an inquiry committee formed to investigate a public official who has resigned due to controversy. In Gurung’s case, however, the government seems to have rushed to bring him back into the Cabinet without providing any details regarding the committee's findings.
After Gurung resigned on April 22, the government formed a three-member committee led by former judge Achyut Prasad Bhandari to investigate the source of his assets.
The committee has already submitted its report to the government. However, the report has not been made public, and there has been no discussion on the committee’s conclusions or on whether those conclusions are factually sound.
Government spokesperson and Minister for Education and Sports, Sasmit Pokharel, earlier said that a Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday decided to accept the probe committee’s report. However, he did not comment on whether the report would be made public or even confirm Gurung's return, stating instead that the government still needed to study the report.
"It has been decided to accept the probe report; now it will be studied," he said.
His statement also indicates that the government rushed to appoint Gurung as home minister without studying the probe committee’s report or its findings regarding the source of Gurung’s sources.
When asked if the report would be released, Prime Minister Balen Shah's Press and Investigation Expert Dipa Dahal said that she had no information regarding the matter.
The committee submitted its report to PM Shah on Friday after 20 days of investigation. Two days later, Gurung hinted publicly that he expected to return as home minister.
Addressing a session of the ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party’s district convention in Gorkha, Gurung said that he was confident he would be cleared by the committee and urged people not to come to the ministry to congratulate him or take photographs during his first two months back in office.
PM Shah had kept the Home Ministry under his own jurisdiction following Gurung's resignation rather than appointing a replacement.
Although the government has not officially released the committee’s report, committee members said that they examined Gurung’s income, expenditures, and tax records from the past 10 years, and that they found "no major discrepancy" in his assets.
"We have submitted a 47-page report to the government," one member said. "There is no major discrepancy seen in the land and shares in his name. However, we did not have time to further investigate the gold he possesses and the loans he has taken."
According to the asset declaration Gurung submitted after becoming a minister, he had nearly 89 tolas of gold. Gurung mentioned in his property declaration that the gold was his ancestral property. Based on this, the investigation committee has also mentioned in the report that the gold is ancestral property.
"Although there are no details on when or at what price the gold was bought, it appears as ancestral property," said a member of the committee. "In our suggestions, we have written that an individual possessing such a large amount of gold could be a risk."
Furthermore, the committee has pointed out that the loans taken by Gurung were not through banking channels. The member informed that the committee recorded statements from the individuals from whom Gurung had taken the loans.
According to the committee member, although Gurung has been involved in eight organizations to date, only four of them are active.
"It appears he increased his wealth by investing in various companies and shares," said another member of the investigation committee. "There was no property found without a source, unlike what was reported in the media."
The report mentions that although Gurung bought shares of NRN Infrastructure worth 5.3 million rupees, their current market value is only 3.6 million rupees.
Similarly, the report points out that there was a difference between the actual value and the capital gains tax paid on the land he purchased in Dhankuta.
In his asset declaration, Gurung also disclosed the details of shares he owned. Among those, he showed 30,000 shares worth 3 million rupees in Hope Holdings Pvt Ltd, 57,000 shares worth 5.7 million rupees in Lagom Premium Apartment, and 70,000 shares worth 7 million rupees in Adventure Villa Pvt Ltd.
All three companies for which he disclosed full details are not listed on the Stock Exchange.
Besides that, Gurung declared that he held shares worth Rs 27.46 million in companies traded in the securities market. This is the value of companies listed on the Stock Exchange.
In his property declaration, Gurung did not specify which companies these are. Out of these shares for which he did not disclose full details, shares worth Rs 5.33 million were bought from the secondary market, while the remaining shares worth Rs 22.12 million were bought from the primary market or as founder shares.
Moreover, it has been revealed that Gurung is a shareholder in at least two micro-insurance companies – Star Micro Insurance and Liberty Micro Insurance – which involve investments by the Shanker Group and Deepak Bhatta, who was arrested in connection with money laundering investigations.
