Kathmandu, October 25

Nepal’s beleaguered anti-corruption Ombudsman chief who has been accused of abusing state powers to further his personal interests, adopted a three-pronged strategy to cling on to power, after the Supreme Court decided to reopen a case questioning his qualification to lead the constitutional body, it has been revealed.

Karki approached Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, talked to UML leaders and tried to influence Supreme Court Chief Justice Sushila Koirala to consolidate his grip on power, an Onlinekhabar investigation has found out.

1.

Prachanda

Karki was appointed CIAA chief in April 2013 even as questions were raised about his qualification to lead Nepal’s anti-corruption Ombudsman. He had a smooth sailing for the last three years, as he took on political leaders and bureaucrats accusing them of corruption. But things changed ast month when the Supreme Court decided to reopen a case questioning his qualification to become CIAA chief.

Following this Supreme Court move, Karki met Prime Minister Prachanda and asked him to lobby in his favour with the Chief Justice. Karki is learnt to have told Prachanda that he would not open corruption case files against the Maoists (especially the one related to alleged misappropriation of funds for the ex-PLAs), if he played along. According to sources, the meeting took place few days before Prime Minister Prachanda embarked on his official visit to India in the second week of September.

Prachanda is learnt to have met Chief Justice Sushila Karki before heading to New Delhi, and requested her to prorogue Lokman’s case for at least seven months (until he is in power). “The Chief Justice was all fired up when Prachanda made the proposal,” says a source. The meeting is learnt to have changed the way Sushila Karki looked at Prachanda. “Hes’ a useless leader,” Sushila Kari tells her aides these days.

 

2.

UML

 

Lokman believes that it is the UML that has made the judiciary its stronghold now. That is why he also approached the UML leadership to at least postpone his court case for sometime. According to sources, the UML leadership responded positively to Lokman. The UML leaders suggested him to take up the issue with Prachanda.

Lokman Singh Karki heaved a sigh of relief after his meeting with the UML leadership, and his next move was to improve ties with Ang Tsering Sherpa, the aviation businessman considered close to the party. But things did not go as planned and their relation took a nosedive, and that triggered the UML to go against him. The UML leadership decided it was time to file an impeachment motion against him.

 3.

Chief Justice Sushila Karki

 

After his botched attempt to influence CJ Karki using Prachanda, Lokman took the help of a relative, who also happens to be a Karki.

According to sources, Prachanda also met CJ Karki’s husband Durga Subedi to try to influence her. But that did not work in Lokman’s favour. During a Dashain gathering at CJ Karki’s residence, a mutual relative of Lokman and Sushila asked the CJ to help Lokman as he too was a Karki.

“Just get out right now,” a source quoted CJ Karki as telling the mutual relative.

Meanwhile, Lokman also tried to use his ‘Karki’ card to say that he and the CJ were relatives, and she should not be allowed to look into his case. According to sources, Lokman wanted Justive Gopal Parajuli, who has a record of being a Nepali Congress ally, to hear his case. But CJ Karki has already refuted his claim, saying that she has no relation with Lokman.

Karki tried to use all means possible to get Chief Secretary Somlal Subdedi to get him to tell the court that the file containing records of his appointment as CIAA chief was ‘lost due to the quake.’

But all of his plans unravelled, mainly due to a ‘surgical strike‘ by Maoist leader Janardan Sharma, and the UML leadership.