Enough ground to impeach Karki: House panel

Published On: February 11, 2017 10:50 AM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

KATHMANDU, Feb 11: The Impeachment Recommendation Committee (IRC) of parliament has submitted its final report on the impeachment motion filed against disqualified CIAA chief Lokman Singh Karki, stating that it has found enough ground to impeach him.

But the report, which was submitted to Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar on Friday, further states that the committee hasn't recommended impeaching Karki as the Supreme Court has already scrapped his appointment as CIAA chief.

The 24-page report concludes that the committee found enough ground for impeaching Karki but it didn't see the need for impeaching him in line with Article 101 of the constitution as a decision of the SC on January 8 already scrapped Karki's appointment to the post.

However, the committee has suggested to parliament that it can direct the government, constitutional bodies or other agencies concerned to further probe the case on the basis of the committee's findings.

The committee has mentioned that most of the allegations made in the impeachment motion filed by 157 lawmakers were found to be true. However, the committee failed to establish two of the seven allegations against Karki despite finding various supporting evidence, according to the report. The committee didn't look into one allegation as the apex court has already concluded the hearing process on the case filed against Karki.

The committee has recommended keeping the report on record at the Parliament Secretariat, Office of the Prime Minister, Secretariat of the Constitutional Council and National Archive for future reference.

An impeachment motion was filed against the controversial CIAA chief Karki on October 29 last year by 157 lawmakers from CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center). Parliament put the motion on hold for months after the court expedited the hearing on a writ demanding the cancellation of Karki's appointment to the helm of the anti-graft body.

The parliamentary regulation has a mandatory provision that the IRC should submit its report to the House within a month with a recommendation after conducting investigation against the accused. The IRC had formed a sub-committee to study the allegations against Karki and submit its report within 15 days.