-No need to impeach Karki
-Parliament may direct concerned govt agencies to probe on his decisions
KATHMANDU, Feb 9: Despite concluding that there is no need to impeach disqualified CIAA chief Lokman Singh Karki, a parliamentary probe committee has submitted its report to the Impeachment Recommendation Committee (IRC) on Wednesday stating that the parliament, however, can direct the concerned government agencies to probe the decisions taken by Karki as the chief of the anti-graft body.
A lawmaker who had filed the impeachment motion against Karki in the parliament has expressed discontent over the recommendation of the probe committee. Proposer of the impeachment motion, Mahendra Bahadur Shahi, accused the major political parties, their leadership and the parliament of showing lack of interest in recommending specific legal action against Karki.
“The report of the parliamentary committee has failed to make any specific legal action against Karki as a result of cowardice of our leaders and political parties,” Shahi told Republica on Wednesday evening.
After Karki warned the leaders of exposing them, they still fear him, according to Shahi.
“The consequences has set a bad precedent that the parliament is still not working for the interest of the public,” Shahi vented his ire.
The probe committee formed under the IRC has found that four of the seven allegations in the impeachment motion against Karki to be true. According to the report, two allegations can't be established from the investigations and the committee didn't see the necessity of probing one of the allegations. The committee didn't see any need of probing the allegation against Karki of obstructing the process of receiving court order, as the court has already settled the case.
According to the report of the committee, Karki was found to be directing the Tribhuvan University to take action against some surgeons breaching its constitutional jurisdiction.
Likewise, the report has also mentioned that Karki pressurized the Nepal Medical Council and Tribhuvan University to increase student admission quotas for medical colleges in which his relative had invested.
Also, the report has found Karki guilty of misusing his authority while intervening in MBBS and MD exams conducted by the Kathmandu University, breaching the constitutional jurisdiction.
The committee has stated that Karki used extrajudicial power under the pretext of investigations against civil servants in corruption cases. Likewise, the report has stated that the committee however didn't get substantial evidence of Karki taking revenge against his critics and using bureaucracy in his favor. “However, we have found that Karki had given privilege to the police officials at the anti-graft body though civil servants were supposed to get the same privilege,” said a member of the probe committee.
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