Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, July 27:

The legal advisor to the Nepali Congress (Democratic), Shree Hari Aryal, today said the Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC) decision to jail former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and others should be challenged politically.

Asked whether the party would move the Supreme Court, Aryal said they would wait and watch. “We’ll see how things develop after the completion of the Chief Justice’s term,” he told an interaction at the Reporters’ Club today.

Senior advocate Krishna Prasad Bhandari said Deuba’s and Singh’s refusal to give statement before the RCCC proved their involvement in corruption. “If they move SC, it means they have given a legal status to the RCCC,” he argued.

Member of civil society, Dr Sunder Mani Dixit, suggested for strengthening the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA). “Had the CIAA dealt with the MDWP case, it would have been acceptable to everyone,” he said.

“RCCC’s action will only help corrupt leaders cleanse their image since the parties have been labelling RCCC’s action as politically prejudiced,” he said, raising concerns of a “carry-over” effect of corruption in the next phase of political development. “Since the Mallik Commission report was not put into effect after restoration of democracy, there was a carry-over of corruption of the Panchayat era,” he said.

CPN-UML leader Pradeep Gyawali said the seven-party alliance would continue to fight against RCCC. Advocate Biswakant Mainali said all decisons of the RCCC were illegal and unconstitutional.

Advocate I C Sharma ruled out corruption in the MDWP saying that the RCCC decision was a ploy to weaken bureaucracy and threaten the political parties.Reacting to what he labelled as the “illegal” detention of former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and others on charges of corruption in the Melamchi Drinking Water Project (MDWP), Aryal said the MDWP project too underwent the same fate and that

NC (D) meet on Friday

Kathmandu: The central committee meeting of Nepali Congress (Democratic), which is debating the ways in which it can secure the release of its leaders Sher Bahadur Deuba and Prakash Man Singh, will resume on Friday.

The latest series of meetings go back to last week, with the party working overtime on a strategy which can ensure the backing of other constituents of the seven-party alliance.

The party, which has been rocked by the arrest and indictment of Deuba and Singh on charges of abuse of authority and corruption, thinks the ruling establishment is embarking on political vendetta by indicting innocent leaders on trumped-up charges. Meanwhile, the meeting of the joint task force of the seven-party alliance, which was held in the evening, remained inconclusive and is scheduled to convene tomorrow. — HNS