Let The Truth Come Out

Minister for Finance Janardan Sharma has resigned after the formation of a parliamentary special probe committee that will look into the alleged entry of an unauthorised outsider into the Budget and Programme Division of the ministry during the formulation of the budget for the fiscal year 20022/23. Over the past couple of weeks, Sharma had been facing tremendous pressure from different sections of the society with the dissemination of some media reports that tax rates in the budget were manipulated with the involvement of that unauthorised person. The main opposition CPN-UML had raised the issue in the federal parliament, accusing Sharma of using the unknown person in the budget preparation process. 

Sharma had fallen into a more difficult situation when even some leaders from the ruling alliance began calling for the formation of a parliamentary committee to probe into the alleged irregularities taking place in the Ministry of Finance at the night of May 28. As per the constitutional provision, the federal government presents its budget for the next fiscal year on the 15th of the month of Jeth every year. Allegations levelled against Sharma had also sparked street protests in different parts of the country. However, the opposition as well as the ruling parties Wednesday agreed to form an eleven-member parliamentary investigation panel to probe into the case. Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota proposed the names of the committee members representing various political parties. Sapkota said that the committee would find out the truth about the assumed irregularities and submit a report to the HoR within 10 days.

The probe committee includes Khagaraj Adhikari, Pradip Kumar Gyawali, Bhanubhakta Dhakal and Bimala BK as members from the main opposition UML. Lawmakers Pushpa Bhusal and Sitaram Mahato are from the Nepali Congress while Dev Prasad Gurung and Shakti Bahadur Basnet represent the CPN-Maoist Centre. Likewise, Sarala Kumari Yadav of Unified Socialist, Surendra Yadav of Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP), and Laxman Lal Karna of Loktantrik Samajbadi Party are other members of the probe panel. Immediately after the formation of the probe panel, Sharma announced his resignation, paving the way for the investigation to be conducted against him. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has taken over the responsibilities of the Ministry of Finance for the time being. 

Denying his involvement in any irregularity, Sharma told the parliament that he is even ready for being investigated for many times. Besides, he was also charged with the removal of CCTV footage of the time of the purported wrongdoing. In this regard, he defended himself by stating that he was not aware of the CCTV footage storage capacity and technical aspects. The Consumer Welfare Protection Forum had asked Minister Sharma to provide the CCTV footage of the ministry’s activities on the night of May 28. But responding to the Consumer Forum’s demand, the ministry said that it was unable to do so as the CCTV footage system at the ministry was capable of maintaining storage of data only till 13 days of the recording. The law requires government bodies to maintain the CCTV footage for at least three months. As the probe panel has started carrying out its important responsibility, let us hope that the fact will be brought to the light soon. The formation of the committee and Sharma’s resignation can be seen in a positive light since these incidents have helped set a good precedence.