Newspapers published in Kathmandu on Tuesday have published reports related to a variety of social, political economic issues. CIAA’s booking of Gopal Bahadur Khadka for corruption has received considerable attention along with the Supreme Court’s refusal to free murder-accused Resham Chaudhary on bail. Reports on Nepali Ambassador to Australia Lucky Sherpa being sacked has been highlighted as well. Here’s a summary of important, ignored and interesting reports that made it to the front pages on Tuesday:
Important
Former NOC chief charged with corruption
Kantipur, Naya Patrika, Annapurna Post The Himalayan Times, The Kathmandu Post, Nagarik and Gorkhapatra report that the CIAA has filed a corruption case against former executive director of Nepal Oil Corporation Gopal Bahadur Khadka accusing him of amassing disproportionate assets worth more than Rs 180m.
Khadka, who has been accused of embezzling millions while procuring land for setting up fuel storage facilities in various districts outside Kathmandu, has been facing accusations of accumulating property without known legal sources in the course of his tenure in government service. The CIAA states that Khadka’s valid income was Rs 86.4 million whereas his expenditure and investment was worth Rs 273 million. He has bought three houses, made partial payments for other two and bought 11 plots of land around Kathmandu. The anti-graft body also made his wife Sharmila Khadka and another unrelated woman Amita Lama Sodemba defendants in the case. Since his appointment to the top NOC post in January 2015, Khadkha has been involved in several controversies. The government sacked Khadkha on September 18 after he was accused of irregularities.
PAC faces political pressure
Nepal Samacharpatra and The Himalayan Times report that the parliamentary Public Account Committee faced political pressure while finalising its sub-committee report related to alleged financial irregularities during the wide-body aircraft purchase deal of Nepal Airlines Corporation. Members of the panel have said that due to political pressure, the PAC removed the names of high-ranking government officials from its final report, which mentions that the civil aviation minister needs to only take moral responsibility for the deal. The committee also acquitted Home Secretary Prem Kumar Rai mentioning that he was no longer at the Tourism Ministry when the Request for Proposal (RFP) was made. However, the committee did recommend that NAC Managing Director Sugat Ratna Kansakar and Tourism Secretary Krishna Prasad Devkota be suspended.
Ignored
MPs barred from pocketing salaries of aides, drivers
Republica reports that to prevent lawmakers from pocketing the salaries of their personal secretaries, aides and drivers, the Parliament secretariat has decided to deposit the salaries of the latter in their personal bank accounts. The office has asked the lawmakers to submit details of the bank accounts of their personal secretariat team members at the earliest. Parliament secretariat took such measure after media reported that lawmakers were pocketing the salaries of their personal aides and drivers.
Regmi sacked
Naya Patrika reports that the government on Monday sacked Dillip Regmi, the chief of the National Investigation Department and replaced him with Ganesh Adhikari. Regmi was due to retire on May 29. According to sources, the Cabinet amended the department’s regulations reducing the tenure of NID chief to three years from four. Adhikari, who was chief of the administrative division, assumed charge as NID chief from Monday. He will remain in the post for three years. All other security agencies’ chiefs’ tenure is also three years.
Interesting
Man held in Canada for paedophile charges in Nepal
The Kathmandu Post reports that Canadian police have apprehended a man, who volunteered at an orphanage in Nepal, on the charge of possessing child pornography and luring a child. Paul McCarthy. 62, was arrested on Friday at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport and escorted off a plane headed to Panama City. McCarthy was stopped by the Canada Border Service Agency after he returned to Canada following this volunteering mission in Nepal. Canadian authorities said officers found evidence of child pornography and conversations in which McCarthy asked to have sexual relations with children under the age of 16. Police investigation led to the identification of five victims– all Nepali boys under 16. McCarthy was one of the donors of Child Haven, a non-profit children’s home based in Kathmandu. However, police haven’t been able to establish if the children who suffered molestation were from Child Haven.
Singhadurbar ministries to get a makeover
Kantipur reports that all the ministries inside the Singhadurbar will now look the same. All 21 ministries inside the complex will be getting a makeover which will resemble its old neoclassical and palladian look. The walls surrounding the complex along with the entrance gates will get an artistic makeover. According to government officials, the central government is planning to give the Federal Administrative Headquarters a ’boutique look’. Each ministry will have its own compound and a garden which will be maintained by a contractor.
