KATHMANDU, August 11: The government has proposed Krishna Hari Pushkar, a controversial figure of the CCTV footage scam, as the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

In the Cabinet meeting held on Thursday, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma proposed to hand over the responsibility of Finance Secretary to Pushkar. The then Revenue Secretary Pushkar is now filling the place that fell vacant after former Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini was transferred to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

Pushkar was dragged into a controversy over his suspicious role in the CCTV footage scam involving Finance Minister Sharma, who has been accused of manipulating tax rates in the budget for the fiscal year 2022/23 by using two ‘unauthorized persons’.

After Sharma was given a clean chit by the parliamentary investigation committee last week, he transferred Secretary Marasini to the PMO and gave Pushkar the charge of Acting Finance Secretary.

Pushkar is popularly known for ‘yes man’ behavior at the high bureaucratic level. According to officials at the MoF, Pushkar had been busy in ‘power exercise’ to gain the position after Marasini was transferred from the MoF.  

In just over a year of being promoted to a government secretary, Pushkar has been able to secure a vital position in the government bureaucracy. Pushkar, who barely has any experience of the affairs related to the country’s financial matters, was placed in the role of Revenue Secretary just in a month after his promotion as secretary on July 8, 2021.

Meanwhile, Rameshwor Dangal has been proposed in the position of Revenue Secretary. Dangal was promoted to the post of government’s secretary in December 2021. 

 
• MoF
 
• Finance_Secretary
 
• Pushkar