Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, April 14:

A week after minister Sarbendra Nath Shukla resigned in response to the objection of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), former finance minister Rabindra Nath Sharma today filed a complaint at the CIAA accusing the constitutional body of interfering in the corruption case filed against him. Sharma also demanded information from the CIAA that under which law had it pressurised Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa to take action against Shukla. Sharma accused the constitutional body of violating legal norms by pressuring the government to take action.

But Sharma defended Shukla’s statement that there was no law by which a minister or member of parliament can be disqualified for being a witness in any case. Sharma, also a senior leader of Rastriya Prajatantra Party, accused the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority of interfering in a sub-judice matter which is pending at the Special Court.

“The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority has been interfering in my case,” the complaint states. “The CIAA, as a plaintiff, had no right to force anyone to furnish a statement in its favour.” Sharma said that the then RPP chief whip Shukla and MP Balaram Ghartimagar were the only persons who knew the details of the case. The CIAA had charged Sharma of using illegal money to buy some members of parliament to defuse a no-confidence motion against the then RPP government headed by Thapa. The CIAA had accused Sharma of spending the amassed amount of Rs 10.9 million in the process. Sharma said that he would seek legal remedy against the CIAA by filing a contempt of court plea. He also sought explanation from the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority as to why it had appointed some government officials as witnesses in his case.