KATHMANDU, March 19: The main opposition party Nepali Congress (NC) has demanded the formation of an investigation committee from within parliament for impartially looking into the charges of cooperative defraud leveled against Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane.
NC has been calling for the resignation of the Home Minister in parliament.
Responding to the allegations leveled against Lamichhane in the meeting of the House of Representatives today, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal expressed the commitment to take action against him if the investigation proved Lamichhane guilty.
According to the PM, appointing Lamichhane as the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister would not constitute a conflict of interest when the investigation into the complaints filed by the victims of the Pokhara-based Surya Darshan Cooperatives has already been concluded.
NC has expressed its reservation on the PM's argument that there was no adequate evidence and basis for removing Home Minister Lamichhane from his post.
In the HoR meeting today, NC Chief Whip Ramesh Lekhak contended that there is enough evidence that Home Minister Lamichhane is directly involved in the cooperative fraud case, claiming that loans have been found issued illegally by the Cooperative in contravention of the provision in the Cooperative Act disallowing loans to the non-members.
"The Honorable Prime Minister said that there is not enough evidence, but we say there is more than enough evidence. Let us create an environment for a fair investigation into this case. We call for the formation of a parliamentary investigation committee to probe this case," the NC Chief Whip reiterated.
Referring to the instances in the past in which the government ministers have resigned from their posts when questions were raised on their morality, Lekhak demanded that Home Minister Lamichhane too resign on moral grounds and cooperate in the investigation.