#Probe on Irregularities Made during Budget Formulation

Parliamentary probe committee asks Finance Ministry to provide software as CCTV footage fails to provide any clue

Published On: July 18, 2022 03:11 PM NPT By: Republica  | @RepublicaNepal


KATHMANDU, July 18: After the CCTV footage of the Ministry of Finance on days before the announcement of annual budget was not found, the Parliamentary Special Investigation Committee ordered the software to 'restore' the CCTV footage. The parliamentary committee has started studying the CCTV footage of the Ministry of Finance from Saturday.

The committee formed to investigate the then Finance Minister Janardan Sharma, who is accused of allowing unauthorized persons to revise tax rates, held discussions with the technicians of the ministry on Sunday. Technicians informed the probe committee that there was no footage of those days available.

According to the source, the technician is going to be called to see the footage in the software at the meeting of the committee at Singha Durbar today. According to a member of the probe committee, there is a provision in the regulations of the Ministry of Home Affairs that CCTV footage should be kept for three months, but the finance ministry did not keep it accordingly.

An 11-member parliamentary special investigation committee was formed after the then Finance Minister Sharma was accused of manipulating tax rates by calling unauthorized persons at the finance ministry in the middle of the night while preparing the 2022/23 budget. Sharma resigned as Finance Minister when the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee was formed.

The meeting of the Parliamentary Special Investigation Committee, which was formed to investigate the alleged irregularities in the budget, is continuing. According to the Member Secretary of the Committee Surendra Aryal, an internal discussion is going to be held on Monday on the facts obtained in the study so far. “The facts obtained will be analyzed,” he said.


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