Playing with fire

How can people take seriously a government that is seen to be protecting the corrupt?

Former Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister and current chair of the Rastriya Swatantra Party Rabi Lamichhane has desperately tried to evade responsibility for his role in the misappropriation of cooperatives funds. Yet the mounting pile of evidence suggests his clear culpability. The parliamentary special probe committee was specifically formed to look into his involvement in the siphoning of money from various cooperatives into the Gorkha Media Network, of which he was the Managing Director. If the feelers coming from the committee members are any sign, Lamichhane will be held accountable for his crime. Yet corruption in Nepal is not limited to Lamichhane or his party. If Lamichhane deserves to be investigated and, if found guilty, punished, so should members of any other political party, irrespective of the positions they occupy. Credible evidence has emerged of the involvement of Dhan Raj Gurung, the Nepali Congress Vice-president, in the embezzlement of funds from a Lalitpur-based cooperative. Gurung reportedly helped his ex-wife, Joyti Gurung, embezzle around Rs12.5 million. Similarly, there are accusations that Risikesh Pokharel, the CPN-UML leader who is also the chair of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee also helped his wife, Anjala Koirala, embezzle as much as Rs120 million from a Morang-based cooperative.