KATHMANDU, Feb 12: Senior advocate Bal Krishna Neupane has moved the apex court demanding former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai be indicted in the Lalita Niwas land grab scam challenging the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA)’s decision.

In the writ petition, Neupane has demanded the CIAA implicate the former prime minister for their involvement in illegally transferring the land at Lalita Niwas, Baluwatar to the name of various private individuals.

The petition comes a week after the anti-graft body filed a corruption case at the Special Court against 175 individuals including Nepali Congress Deputy-Parliamentary Party leader Bijay Kumar Gachhadar and three former ministers, while exonerating the ex-PMs, Nepal Communist Party General Secretary Bishnu Paudel and ex-Supreme Court Justice Kumar Regmi.

The CIAA has said it did not charge-sheet Nepal and Bhattarai as policy decisions made by the cabinet do not fall under its jurisdiction.

KATHMANDU, Feb 7: The main opposition party Nepali Congress has obstructed the House of Representatives meeting Friday as well, protesting the CIAA decision not to file corruption case against former Prime Ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal and Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, Nepal Communist Party General Secretary Bishnu Paudel and former Supreme Court justice Kumar Regmi in the Lalita Niwas land grab scam.

The CIAA on Wednesday filed a charge-sheet against 175 individuals including Nepali Congress Deputy-Parliamentary Leader Bijay Kumar Gachhadar and three former ministers accusing them of illegally transferring the land at Lalita Niwas to the name of various individuals but did not charge sheet Nepal, Bhattarai, Paudel and Regmi.

The anti-graft body has stated it gave amnesty to Paudel and Regmi since Paudel’s son Navin and Regmi had promised to return the land to the government, while Nepal and Bhattarai were not charged as the cabinet decisions do not fall under their jurisdiction.

“The CIAA itself has misused the authority. How can CIAA not file a case against prime minister whose cabinet made the decision but indict a minister over the same case?,” said Min Bahadur Bishwakarma.

“How can the CIAA conclude Paudel and Regmi innocent just because they promised to return the land?”

“The CIAA’s decision to implicate Gachhadar is heavily influenced by the government,” he reiterated.

As soon as Bishwakarma completed his statement, the NC lawmaker stood from their seats. Despite Speaker’s frequent request to the lawmaker to sit down and allow House business, the kept standing forcing Speaker Sapkota to halt the meeting for half an hour.

KATHMANDU, Feb 6: The main opposition party Nepali Congress has obstructed the meeting of the House of Representatives on Thursday protesting the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA)’s move to indict its Deputy Parliamentary Party leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Bijay Kumar Gachhadar in the notorious Lalita Niwas land grab scam.

The NC, after discussing the charge sheet filed against Gachhadar in an urgent meeting today morning, has slammed the CIAA move as “an act of political vengeance” and “biased”.

The CIAA on Wednesday filed a charge sheet against 175 individuals including Gachhadar, former ministers Chandra Dev Joshi, Chhabiraj Pant and Dambar Shrestha accusing them of illegally registering the state land at Lalita Niwas in Baluwatar in the name of various 65 individuals.

However, the CIAA did not file any cases against the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) General Secretary Bishnu Paudel and his son Navin, who owns eight annas of land at Lalita Niwas, and former Supreme Court Chief Justice Kumar Regmi who owns two annas.

NC Chief Whip Pushpa Bhusal vented ire accusing the CIAA of becoming the shadow of the government.

“The CIAA indicted Gachhadar because he is an opposition leader,” she said.

Bhusal also questioned the credibility of the constitutional body and its biased behavior.

“The CIAA, in influence of the government, has indicted our leader because we are in the opposition. Why were some of them spared just because they promised to return the land? We cannot support such unfair decision and such practice of the government. Thus we are not in position to allow the Speaker to proceed the House business,” she said.

Following Regmi’s statement, the NC stood from the seats forcing the Speaker to stop the meeting. 

The NC has also directed its sister organizations to take to streets protesting the CIAA’s decision.

KATHMANDU, Feb 6: Samajbadi Party Federal Council Chair Dr. Baburam Bhattarai said he is feeling “uncomfortable” the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a charge sheet against former ministers but spared former Prime Minister and ruling Nepal Communist Party senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal in the Lalita Niwas land grab scam.

After the CIAA on Wednesday filed case against 175 individuals including Nepali Congress Vice-President and former Deputy Prime Minister Bijay Kumar Gachhadar, former ministers Chandra Dev Joshi, Chhabiraj Pant and Dambar Shrestha charging them of illegally transferring the land in Baluwatar to the name of various private owners, Dr. Bhattarai took to twitter to express his discomfort.

“I welcome the CIAA move but it is full of errors and incompleteness. I feel uncomfortable that the anti-graft body has found former ministers guilty but not former PMs,” said Bhattarai.

Gachhadar was the Physical Planning minister under the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led government and Basnyat the secretary at his ministry when the land was transferred to various individuals and fake tenants.

But the CIAA has said that the cabinet decisions—which paved way for the illegal transfer of the Lalita Niwas land in private ownership—could not be investigated as these do not fall under their jurisdiction.

The CIAA also filed a case against former secretary Dinesh Hari Adhikari, Bhat-Bhateni Supermarket owner Min Bahadur Gurung, businessman Shobhakanta Dhakal and other individuals. However, ruling Nepal Communist Party General Secretary Bishnu Paudel and former Supreme Court Chief Justice Kumar Justice Kumar Regmi were untouched because, according to the anti-graft body, they have promised to return the land.

KATHMANDU, Feb 6: The Nepali Congress has called an urgent meeting at his residence in Budanilkantha today after the he Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a case against its Deputy Parliamentary Party leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar at the special court charging him and 174 other of illegally transferring the 299 ropanies of land at Lalita Niwas to the name of various individuals.

The CIAA on Wednesday filed a charge sheet against Gachhadar, former CIAA chief Deep Basnet, former ministers Chandra Dev Joshi, Chhabiraj Pant and Dambar Shrestha, former secretary Dinesh Hari Adhikari, Bhat-Bhateni Supermarket owner Min Bahadur Gurung, businessman Shobhakanta Dhakal and various other individuals; and has sought a court order to bring back the land that is currently owned by 65 individuals and billions in fine to the accused.

Gachhadar was the Physical Planning minister under the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led government and Basnyat the secretary at his ministry when the land was transferred to various individuals and fake tenants.

However, the CIAA has spared former PMs Nepal and Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai saying the cabinet decisions—which reportedly paved way for the illegal transfer of the Lalita Niwas land in private ownership—could not be investigated as they do not fall under their jurisdiction.

The CIAA also did not file any cases against Nepal Communist Party General Secretary Bishnu Paudel and his son Navin Paudel, who own eight annas of land in Lalita Niwas, and for Supreme Court Justice Kumar Regmi saying they had promised to return the land.

But the NC is not happy that its vice-president was dragged but the ruling party leaders spared and questioned the CIAA’s motive.

NC leaders Krishna Prasad Sitoula, Minendra Rijal, Gopal Man Shrestha, Prakash Man Singh and other office bearers are attending the meeting, after which the party is likely to give its official statement on the CIAA’s move.

The NC has also called some legal experts to discuss the issue.

Photo: Rss

KATHMANDU, Feb 5: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Wednesday has filed a case against over 100 government officials including Nepali Congress Vice-president and former Deputy Prime Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachhachhadar, former Chief Commissioner of the anti-graft body Deep Basnet, former ministers Dambar Shrestha, and Chandra Dev Joshi in connection with the Lalita Niwas land grab scam.

According to the CIAA sources, a team of CIAA officials has reached the special court to file an anti-graft case against them accusing them of illegally transferring the state land to private ownership.

Last week, The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) had submitted a probe report to the government recommending action against Basnet, former election commissioner Sudhir Kumar Shah, former minister Chhabiraj Panta, Bhatbhateni Supermarket proprietor Min Bahadur Gurung, Shobhakanta Dhakal, Ram Kumar Subedi, Rukma Shumsher Rana, Hemadri Rana and several government officials and middlemen for forgery and fraud.

The probe committee had also concluded that the policy decisions taken by the governments led by Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Girija Prasad Koirala, Surya Bahadur Thapa, Madhav Kumar Nepal and Baburam Bhattarai had favored the land mafia.

Gachhadar was Physical Planning Minister under the Nepal-headed government while Banset was the secretary at his ministry.

KATHMANDU, Sept 4: The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has summoned several people over the Lalita Niwas land grab case. CIAA issued a notification to this effect and has given a time period of seven days.

Several private citizens have been found to have benefited land for private use, the land that belonged to the government was given at throwaway prices and several people at the Land Revenue Office in Dillibazar are said to be hand in glove in this case. This case had been a topic for national discussion. Further investigations will reveal more in the days ahead. An estimated 37.6 acres of land were transferred to several private citizens in this case.

The following are the list of people called by the CIAA in their name list,

Kalpana Tuladhar

Sharmila Shakya Bajracharya

Pragati Kansakar

Kamana Gurung

Sajjan Kumar Chachan

Devanshi Goyal

Manoj Kumar Kedia

Manti Gorkhali

Nikita Tuladhar

Amitabh Tuladhar

Uma Prasain

Yurisobha Tuladhar

Renuka Bajracharya

Suvista Tuladhar

Anjana Tuladhar Tamrakar

Chadrika Kansakar Tuladhar

Sanochori Bajracharya

Sipika Khaitan

Susma Bajracharya Shakya

Sandhya Shakya

Sangita Rakhecha Kathori Bothra

Nutan Shrestha

Dharma Sobha Shakya

Dimpal Bangshal

Sarita Manandhar Shrestha

Geeta Gautam

Nitu Gurung

Rita Ojha Gautam

Ratna Hira Bajracharya

Pratima Baidhya Pradhan

Praveen Tamrakar

Bijay Tamrakar

Maya Sherpa Gauchan

Maheshraja Tuladhar

Dwarikadevi Shrestha

Indu Sharma

Bhawani Joshi

Bharati Pande

Bibek Kumar Subedi

Keshav Tuladhar

Anitadevi Kansakar

Om Birman Tamrakar

Anilman Tamrakar

Govinda Lal Shanghai

Gayatri Shreshtha Kansakar

Radha Sigdel Acharya

Rupesh Kumar Subedi

Pahalman Gurung

Purshottam Paudel

Pramod Sherchan

Kanak Herbal

Accyutraj Shrestha

Bijendra Joshi

Ramnath Ghimire

Purshottam Paudel

Prem Hari Dhakal

Saraswati Kumari Shrestha

Manoj Kumar Gautam