KATHMANDU, APRIL 9

The Rabi Lamichhane-led Rastriya Swatantra Party has barred its lawmaker Dhaka Kumar Shrestha from working as party cadre and lawmaker after a purported audio record in which he appears to be negotiating a bribery deal with businessperson Durga Prasai came to light.

Shrestha was elected HoR member under the proportional representation election system. In the audio record Shrestha is heard telling Prasai that his party had the health portfolio and he would become the health minister. The conversation purportedly took place on January 15.

Shrestha also tells Prasai that two to three core people of RSP who were close to party Chair Rabi Lamichhane had demanded Rs 20 to 25 million from him if he wanted the home portfolio.

He told him that he approached him as he did not have the money. The RSP lawmaker also told Prasai he was told by the core team that he must give them cash and that they would not consider him if he failed to manage the amount.

Shrestha said the 'core team' had told him the money would be given to the party to carry out its activities, but he did not know if the money would actually go to the party. Prasai is heard telling Shrestha that he could give him Rs 200 million but he should favour him in his business. Prasai said he had secured affiliation for his medical college from Kathmandu University, but the university had not fixed the number of students. He said his medical college had the required infrastructure in Mechi zone where 3.2 million population reside and yet he had not been able to run his college.

He said the medical sector was in a mess as Nepali students were deprived of opportunity to study in the country. 'I had to send my daughter to Japan to pursue medical course. She wanted to do a course on radiation oncology but she could not study in the country,' Prasai is heard telling Shrestha.

Prasai told Shrestha that he could be assured of getting Rs 200 million from him but it might take time as banks had tightened the rule for withdrawing huge amounts of money. Shrestha said both of them would collaborate.

After the audio surfaced on online media today, RSP General Secretary Mukul Shrestha issued a press release saying his party's serious attention had been drawn to the telephonic talk. He stated that the party had directed the party's Discipline Committee to probe the matter and submit a report within three days. 'The RSP has directed Shrestha not to do anything as party member and lawmaker until the probe is over,' the RSP stated in its release. The Discipline Committee issued a show cause to lawmaker Shrestha telling him to present his side of the story within 24 hours.

RSP Chair Lamichhane today vowed to take punitive action against Shrestha within 72 hours. He said his party had been raising slogan against corruption and it would not tolerate corrupt behaviour.

A version of this article appears in the print on April 10, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.