Kathmandu, February 23
The ruling Nepal Communist Party is unlikely to investigate the allegation that the party’s central committee member and former minister for communications and information technology Gokul Baskota demanded a commission from a Swiss company agent for awarding his company a contract to open a security printing press in Nepal.
After the audiotape about the supposed conversation about the deal leaked out, minister Baskota resigned from his position last week.
A secretariat meeting of the party held in Kathmandu on Saturday discussed the issue and concluded that the party would not need to launch a separate investigation as concerned agencies such as Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority would look into it, informs the party’s publicity department deputy chief Surya Thapa.
Meanwhile, the meeting dismissed media reports that the party chairman, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, was aware of the tape since around two months ago. “The prime minister has adopted a zero-tolerance policy against corruption,” Thapa, also the press advisor to the prime minister, says, “It is worthless to discuss such baseless issues.”
During the meeting, the party’s senior leader Jhala Nath Khanal briefed the party about the report of a panel led by him about the Millennium Challenge Corporation agreement signed with the United States. The meeting, however, did not make any concrete decision about it.
The leaders say the next secretariat meeting will discuss the issue further.
