Seven-member parliamentary inquiry panel formed

KATHMANDU: The House of Representatives has formed a seven-member parliamentary inquiry panel to investigate several incidents of misappropriation of cooperative deposits.

Speaker Devraj Ghimire presented a proposal to form the inquiry committee with defined terms of reference (ToR) prepared by the major political parties in the meeting. The meeting passed the proposal by voice vote.

Surya Bahadur Thapa Chhetri of CPN-UML is the chairperson of the committee, which includes Ishwari Neupane and Badri Prasad Pandey of Nepali Congress, Sarita Bhsual of CPN-UML, Lekhnath Dahal of CPN (Maoist Center), Shishir Khanal of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), and Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) as members.

The committee has been given three months to conduct the inquiry and submit its report. It will study and analyze the problems seen in cooperative organizations, the legal, regulation and supervision issues, the protection of deposits, and the process of refund of savings to depositors, and provide its recommendations to the House of Representatives.

Similarly, the committee will investigate cases of misappropriation of cooperative deposits, improper transactions, losses, other issues raised in parliament, and funds disbursed to entities like Gorkha Media Network Pvt Ltd and individuals involved. It will specifically look into 29 saving and credit cooperatives.