GOVT. PREPARES PROPOSAL TO AMEND CONSTITUTION TO EXTEND CA TENURE BY ANOTHER THREE MONTHS

PATAN PROTESTS COLLEGE GIRL’S MURDER

Kathmandu, 12 Aug: Patan residents Friday came out on the streets in Patan protesting the murder of college student Rosi Maharjan , a Kupandole resident.
Her former boyfriend has been arrested for abducting and shooting her to death
Her bullet riddled body was recovered from a forest in the southern outskirt of the Valley this week.
Ministers were seen walking to Singha Durbar from ministers’ quarter at Pulchowk as the protest disrupted vehicular movement.
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WOMAN APPOINTED TO MANAGE RBB

Kathmandu, 12 Aug,: Shiva Devi Kafle has been appointed CEO of wholly-owned government Rashtriya Banijya Bank (RBB) by finance ministry Tuesday.
She was a board member of RBB after retiring from Nepal Rashtra Bank NRB) as director one year ago.
Kafle is the first woman to head a commercial bank—public or private-- in Nepal.
A new CEO is being appointed through competition.
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GOVT. PREPARING TO AMEND CONSTITUTION

Kathmandu, 12 Aug.: Government has prepared
a proposal to amend the constitution to extend the tenure of the constituent assembly (CA) by three months, Gorkhapatra reports.
The proposal has been prepared after a constitution wasn’t drafted in an extended three-month period.
Government Spokesman and Education Minister Ganga Lal Tuladhar told Gorkhapatra government has concluded the tenure should be extended after the constitution couldn’t be completed in the specified period.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

“The government cannot arrest him [Parshuram Basnet] as long as there is youth association in the country.”

(UML Youth Association Chairman Mahesh Basnet, The Himalayan Times, 12 Aug,)
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CIAA FAILED TO FOLLOW PAPER MONEY TRAIL

Kathmandu, 12 Aug.: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority though has chargesheeted 36 persons, including 34 police officials, in connection with multi-million dollar Darfur scam and the accused are facing trial, the constitutional anti-graft body has failed to trace the paper trail of the embezzled money, The Himalayan Times reports.
Even as police officials are appearing in court, being sent to jail and are released on bail, there are questions galore whether CIAA itself can be given a clean chit for conducting a fair investigation.

And even CIAA officials concede that the anti-graft body had failed to delve deep into financial aspect of the scam though it issued blanket chargesheet against 36 persons, saying Rs 280 million was misappropriated while purchasing armoured personnel carriers for Nepal Police peacekeeping mission in Darfur of Sudan.

“Honestly speaking, we failed to follow the paper trail of the money that was embezzled. But we concluded that the police officials had misappropriated the funds and hence filed a corruption case against them,” CIAA Spokesperson Ishwori Prasad Paudel told The Himalayan Times, adding that the existing legal and banking system make it difficult for CIAA officials to find out where the money was or is.

Three ex-IGs Om Bikram Rana, Hem Bahadur Gurung and Ramesh Chand Thakuri are now out on bail after spending a night or two behind bars. They have been vehemently opposing CIAA decision to indict them on corruption charges. CIAA’s move was also questioned for ‘sparing political and bureaucratic leadership’.

Advocate Hira Regmi, who has been defending former police chief Om Bikram Rana, said the CIAA investigation was flawed for it failed to follow the paper trail despite concluding that millions of rupees were embezzled. “If they (police officials) had amassed the money, CIAA must have tried to find out where they kept it,” said Regmi. Rabi Raj Thapa, former AIG of the Armed Police Force, could not agree more. “CIAA failed to investigate into the financial aspect and find who received what amount of money. Without answering these questions, the investigation cannot be complete.”

Though Thapa said it was not that difficult to trace the money for it must have been transferred from one bank to another, CIAA maintained that existing legal provisions didn’t allow them to investigate into personal bank accounts of the accused even if they have deposited the money in the banks. “CIAA can seek details only from the government-owned banks, not from private commercial banks,” said Paudel.

He, however, pointed at the possibility that the accused might have siphoned off the money. But still, the question looms why CIAA did not seek help from the Interpol if that was the case.

“As a matter of fact, CIAA never probed where the accused deposited the misappropriated amount or whether they have deposited the money in the banks in their or their relatives’ names,” conceded Paudel. “We don’t think this was essential for our investigation; we believe anyone guilty of corruption must pay the penalty as per the court order.”

Attorney General Yuba Raj Sangroula, however, said CIAA can reopen the investigation and look into financial aspect of the scam and then file a banking offence or money laundering case if they are found guilty.

“CIAA investigated the case with a different perspective — abuse of power and corruption. Therefore, it did not concentrate on where the money went,” added Sangroula.
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AG YUBARAJ SANGRAULA WARMS PN KHANAL HASTY RESIGNATION WILL CREATE POLITICAL UNCERTAINTY

Kathmandu, 12 Aug.: ATHMANDU: Attorney General Yubaraj Sangroula today [Thursday] advised Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal not to resign without tabling a constitution amendment bill to extend the Constituent Assembly tenure, The Himalayan Times reports.

“Once the prime minister resigns, the government will turn into a caretaker one, which cannot table the constituent amendment bill that is the prerequisite to extend the term of CA. Therefore, I advised him not to take a decision which could not only be fatal to his career but also could push the country into political uncertainty,” Sangroula told this daily. The attorney general even warned of constitutional void, saying a caretaker government will not be able to take major decisions. According to Sangroula, though the prime minister made a mental note of the advice that his resignation ‘could’ leave constitutional vacuum, he fell short of telling the attorney general whether he would tender his resignation. Prime Minister Khanal is likely to resign tomorrow.

“He might seek assurance from the parties for the extension of CA term before tendering his resignation,” added Sangroula.
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