The Parliamentary committee looking over the Lokman Singh Karki impeachment case has formed a three-member sub-committee to recommend future course of action.
The new sub-committee was formed on Wednesday after committee members discussed the issue with Attorney General Raman Kumar Shrestha.
Karki was appointed CIAA chief in May 2013 despite facing charges by the Rayamajhi commission of having suppressed the people’s movement. The then Cabinet had also declared him ineligible to hold any public office in the future. As CIAA chief, Karki was accused of running a ‘parallel’ government and using his power and influence to fulfill his vested interests.
On January 8, a bench of justices Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada, Ananda Mohan Bhatarai, and Anil Kumar Sinha deemed Karki’s appointment to the post invalid, and said he was not qualified to hold the position. Meanwhile, Karki left for the Indian capital on a flight of national flag carrier, Nepal Airlines, on Sunday. According to multiple sources, Karki was accompanied by his wife Sunita, and the couple’s flight took off from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport. He is learnt to be planning to head to Canada, where is son lives.
The sub-committee members are: NC’s Deepak Kuikel, UML’s Rewati Raman Bhandari and the ruling party’s Ram Narayan Bidari.
Lawmakers from the Nepali Congress say there’s no need to carry on with the impeachment process against Karki as he has already lost his job. While pressing the impeachment process ahead, the committee has to take Karki’s statement.
While lawmakers from the CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre, who registered the impeachment motion against Karki, said the committee should take more time to arrive at a conclusion. Some stressed the need to carry on with the impeachment process. With committee members disagreeing on the future course. The meeting had decided to engage in legal consultations on the matter.
