KATHMANDU, July 29: The parliamentary probe special committee formed to investigate if the tax rates were changed with the involvement of unauthorized persons in the annual budget for the current fiscal year will submit its report to the Speaker Agni Sapkota today.
The committee has prepared a report after holding discussions with various parties. The committee sat in a meeting all day yesterday to finalize the report. Surendra Aryal, member secretary of the committee, said that the Chairman of the Committee Laxmanlal Karna will take an appointment with the Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota to submit the report on Friday.
Parliamentary probe committee gets seven more days
He said that the matter mentioned in the report cannot be made public. In the House of Representatives meeting held on July 6, Speaker Sapkota announced that an 11-member special probe committee will be formed to investigate the matter.
The members of the committee were lawmakers Khagaraj Adhikari, Devprasad Gurung, Pushpa Bhusal (Gautam), Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Bhanubhakta Dhakal, Bimala BK, Laxman Lal Karna, Shakti Bahadur Basnet, Sitaram Mahato, Sarlakumari Yadav and Surendra Prasad Yadav. Finance Minister Janardan Sharma resigned from the post after the parliamentary probe committee was formed to investigate his involvement in manipulating tax rates to suit the interest of some business groups.
The committee took statements from former finance minister Sharma, Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, and high-ranking officials involved in the preparation of the budget. The committee was asked to submit the report within 10 days. After the appointed committee could not work, the House of Representatives extended its deadline by seven days. The committee's extended deadline expired on Thursday.
