By P.R. Pradhan

The ongoing Parliament session was obstructed for more than 12 days when the opposition parties demanded the resignation of the sitting Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak following the Commission for Investigation on Abuse of Authority (CIAA) initiating an investigation on the visit visa scandal. Minister Lekhak is certainly involved in the visa setting by deploying the officials under his direct instruction. When officials deployed by the Minister at the Immigration Office in the Tribhuvan International Airport are being interrogated by the CIAA, Lekhak had to tender his resignation, paving the way for an impartial investigation. Different sources have confirmed that those officials deployed at TIA had to submit five million rupees each day to the Minister’s secretariat. We can sense that Lekhak alone didn’t enjoy the commission amount. Certainly, some portion of the total amount goes to Budhanilkantha and also to Baluatar. Therefore, senior leaders in the present ruling alliance are protecting Lekhak. The visit visa scandal is related to human trafficking, mostly women trafficking to the Gulf countries. When we are informed about the involvement of senior leaders in such human trafficking, it is a serious issue to be investigated. The leaders are ready to do everything just for the money. The present visit visa scandal is not only related to Ramesh Lekhak but also related to other ex-home ministers, therefore, an in-depth investigation should be conducted.

There are many scandals in which senior leaders are involved, but they have escaped. Just last week, after years, the CIAA has filed a corruption case against above 90 individuals, including Madhav Nepal, former prime minister and chairman of the Unified Socialist Party (USP). The case is related to allowing the Patanjali Yogapeeth to procure land above the limit and also allowing it to dispose for commercial purposes. Earlier, the case was kept pending, all of a sudden, the CIAA filed the case in the Special Court in Kathmandu. There is a debate among the political leaders that one section has taken it as a revenge by sitting Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli against his rival Madhav Nepal, another section believes that this is a good beginning as the CIAA has attempted to investigate cases carried out through a policy decision. The top leaders, to escape the CIAA investigation, are carrying out such controversial decisions by approving them at the cabinet meeting. When Nepal is found putting pressure on senior government officials to move the file with positive remarks, we cannot say that he is clean. Nepal, abusing his position as the prime minister, had approved the file from the cabinet meeting. Nepal's post as a Member of Parliament has been suspended, along with filing the case in the court. These days, he is giving clarification that the decision was made through the cabinet, therefore, he is clean, which cannot be justified. A sitting prime minister cannot take any decision which would cause a loss to the nation. 

We don’t know the intention of the CIAA, but if it has worked with good intentions in catching big fish, then it is a commendable job. Whatever the verdict from the court, at least, the wrong decision of those supreme leaders has surfaced. If the CIAA has taken such a decision without bias, then we take it as a beginning of an investigation into the political-level crimes and scandals. Also, it will help to clean the dirty politics.

Unfortunately, corruption has become rampant under the present loktantra. Politics has become a business without investment, as we have been saying. We are confirmed that without empowering the CIAA as an independent and autonomous organ in investigating corruption and abuse of authority by the leaders in power, corruption practices cannot be controlled. Empowering the CIAA is necessary to clean politics. Unfortunately, the new bill, which is intended to empower the CIAA further, has been kept pending in Parliament under the instruction of the leaders of the ruling parties. It makes clear that the political leadership is not eager to introduce a law which would curtail their free hands.