Kathmandu: The CPN (Maoist Center) has decided to hold talks with the main opposition party CPN-UML before forming a parliamentary committee to investigate the alleged financial crime committed by Finance Minister Janardan Sharma.
The decision was taken at a meeting of former standing committee members held at Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda’s residence in Khumaltar on Wednesday morning.
The main opposition has been demanding a parliamentary probe against the finance minister accused of involving an outsider to alter tax rates in the budget speech just before it was presented before the Parliament.
Former Standing Committee Member Haribol Gajurel said that the party decided to hold discussions with CPN-UML regarding the parliamentary committee.
After it came to light that Finance Minister Janardan Sharma had permitted a former government official of a non-gazetted first-class level to change certain provisions on May 28 at midnight in order to ensure benefits for certain private sector businesses and business elites, there have been calls for Sharma’s resignation. The minister had planned to present his budget to Parliament on May 29, but the changes were made just hours earlier.
The Maoist Center’s Finance Minister has been accused of misconduct three times since he assumed his position, with the most recent allegation being the third. He was discovered to have violated the law in order to enrich his preferred business cliques by undermining the financial system.
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