Kathmandu, Nepal, July 18, 2022: The parliamentary probe committee formed to investigate then Finance Minister Janardan Sharma’s alleged role to enter unauthorized persons to manipulate tax rates on last May 28, a day before presenting the budget for the fiscal year 2022/023, has made its last ditch effort to get the CCTV footage of the day.
A meeting of the committee held on Monday decided to consult with technical experts on Tuesday to retrieve the footage. As we could not find the CCTV footage of May 28, we are going to consult with the concerned technicians to retrieve the footage, Pradeep Gyawali, a member of the probe committee, who is also the lawmaker from the main opposition party, CPN UML, said.
The committee has got no clue yet as neither finance ministry provided the footage nor any official revealed about the alleged charge that then finance minister Sharma entered unauthorized persons to manipulate tax rates.
Furnishing the explanation, the finance ministry had stated that the CCTV footage of the past month including of that day had got erased automatically due to the limited capacity of the hard drive.
Though the finance ministry and then finance minister have a same claim that the system of the CCTV could not store recording of more than 13 days, there is a general understanding that the security surveillance records must be keep safe for at least three months.
The CCTV Camera Installation and Operation Procedure 2015 introduced by the Home Ministry has also made a provision that those who have installed CCTV for security surveillance, regardless of governmental or private institutions or individual, must keep the records safe for at least three months.
While passing a verdict on July 15, the Supreme Court (SC), the apex court of the country, had also noted that it cannot imagine that CCTV footage of Singha Durbar, the main administrative hub of the country, are not kept safely by the authorities.
Following the formation of the parliamentary committee on July 6, then finance minister Sharma had resigned from the post at the same day to pave the way for the investigation.
