Lamichhane ready for inquiry, demands probes into all major scams

KATHMANDU: Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, Rabi Lamichhane, has said that he is ready to face a parliamentary inquiry into his alleged involvement in cooperative fraud if other scandals are also investigated similarly.

He said he is ready for investigations if other scams, such as the Tikapur and Lalita Niwas land scams, the Balmandir scam, the watch theft, the Teramocs scandal, and the wide-body procurement scandal, among others, are probed accordingly.

Lamichhane, who sought time to respond to allegations against him, ended up targeting the main opposition, the Nepali Congress, in his address. He linked several NC leaders, including Gagan Kumar Thapa, Ramhari Khatiwada, Dhan Raj Gurung, and Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba, to different scams and questioned: “Do we all agree to start parliamentary investigations against all those just on the basis of media reports?”

He added that the Auditor General’s report states that NC General Secretary Gagan Kumar Thapa, who was the Free Students’ Union president at Tri-Chandra Campus in 1998 BS, had an arrear of Rs 3 million to settle. Lamichhane also accused Thapa of taking money from Tribhuvan University to build a website but doing nothing and misusing Rs 150 million from PACT Nepal disbursed for an agricultural project. “Will there be an investigation into these as well?” Lamichhane challenged Thapa.

Major points in Lamichhane’s Address:

• I was subjected to a media trial in Parliament based on unverified rumors against me.
• I was offered the position of Prime Minister (by the Nepali Congress) for one and a half years. Parliament obstructions began after I rejected the offer.
• Prove that I took a loan from the cooperative by submitting an application, I will quit politics.
• I was involved with Gorkha Media Network does not mean that I will have to bear all the garbage created by GB Rai.
• Let the House itself decide whether to form a person-centric committee based solely on media reports.
• Are we ready to form a parliamentary committee based on past media discussions about various leaders?
• Prove that I took a loan from the cooperative by submitting an application, I will quit politics.