The Parliamentary Hearing Committee has unanimously rejected the nomination of Chudamani Kharel as Nepal’s ambassador to Malaysia.
The committee rejected his nomination based on complaints, along with audio and video recordings, received by the committee members via WhatsApp.
Meanwhile, the committee has put the nomination of Jigyan Kumar Thapa, who was proposed as ambassador to Japan, on hold.
The committee said that it had requested additional documents to examine Thapa’s case further. It will decide on his hearing after receiving the documents.
Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) lawmaker Madhu Kumar Chaulagain said that it would not be appropriate to make a decision before receiving a response to the correspondence seeking further information.
CPN-UML lawmaker Padma Kumari Aryal described Thapa as a good person who deserved to be protected. She said that the process should move forward if there were no obstacles; otherwise, it would be appropriate to wait until the requested documents arrived.
Committee chair Bodh Narayan Shrestha then proposed waiting for a response from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on whether Thapa had received money from government funds and whether he had renounced his permanent residency (PR) status. The committee agreed to the proposal.
Lawmakers also pointed out that Thapa’s family still lives in Japan and holds permanent residency status there, raising concerns about a possible conflict of interest.
The committee will now make a decision on Thapa’s nomination only after the Dashain festival.
Earlier, the committee unanimously rejected the nomination of Giri Bahadur Sunar as ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
This marks the first time in Nepal’s parliamentary history that the Parliamentary Hearing Committee has rejected ambassadorial nominees recommended by the government.
There have been instances in Nepal’s parliamentary history where ambassadorial nominees withdrew their names. However, no nominee had previously had their nomination rejected by the Parliamentary Hearing Committee itself.
When Girija Prasad Koirala was prime minister, Shailaja Acharya was nominated as ambassador to India. However, the nomination became controversial from the outset amid allegations that Koirala had recommended someone with family ties for the diplomatic post.
Concerned that the nomination would face questions in the Parliamentary Hearing Committee formed under the Interim Constitution, the government was compelled to withdraw her name.
Similarly, in 2024, questions were raised in the committee after discrepancies were found in the academic credentials of Ram Krishna Bhattarai, who had been proposed as ambassador to Sri Lanka. Shortly afterward, Bhattarai withdrew his nomination himself.
