Do it together

Ruling and opposition parties must join hands to collectively tackle co-operative fraud.

It is good to know that Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal is thinking hard about solving the problems of victims of fraudulent co-operatives’ operators. Addressing the CPN (Maoist Centre) parliamentary party meeting on Saturday, he accepted that the misuse of the deposits of co-operatives was a grave issue and as such discussions were underway both in and outside the government to form a parliamentary probe committee. Alluding to the demand of the Nepali Congress, the main opposition, that a parliamentary committee be formed to investigate the charges of embezzlement of co-operative funds by Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane, Dahal said the issue would be dealt in totality and no single person would be targeted. That sounds fair enough. If a parliamentary probe is constituted to look into the larger issue, Lamichhane can be a subject of the same investigation. Moreover, the goal here is not to target or punish one person but to do justice to the countless victims of fraud. Yet the Congress, to whom Dahal has communicated the same message, remains sceptical. It sees efforts to widen the scope of the parliamentary probe as yet another attempt to save Lamichhane. The Congress will accept no such ‘conspiracy’, the party leaders say.