KATHMANDU: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the legislature parliament today directed the state-owned Gorkhapatra Sansthan and the Ministry

of Information and Communication (MoIC) to carry out

half-yearly audit accounts.

The move follows financial irregularities of the ailing corporation and the ministry due to irregular auditing.

The committee also directed the Gorkhapatra Sansthan to

give details of the political appointments it had made in the corporation since the CA election. The committee had acquired information about the alleged irregularities committed by Information Minister Shankar Pokharel, chairman of the Gorkhaparta Corporation Bijaya Chakise and its General Manager Shambhu Shrestha.

Minister Pokharel said they had formed a panel with a view to making the state-owned media house more competitive and accountable in the changed context. PAC members, however, demanded that the corporation be privatised to stop it as recruitment ground for the party cadres as such practice had weakened its financial health.

The Gorkhapatra Sansthan, the oldest media house in the country, has not carried out auditing since 2006. Its debt stands at Rs 400 million and arrears Rs 140 million.