HEARING ON LOKMAN SINGH KARKI APPOINTMENT TO CIAA POSTPONED Kathmandu, 7 April: A supreme court division bench Sunday put off until Tuesday a writ filed to stop the appoint of Lokman Singh Karki as CIAA chief. Karki was chief secretary during the royal regime and his critics say he committed irregularities and excesses during his tenure. Charges of financial irregularities haven’t been proved.. Maoists and Meshbadi Morcha of five parties recommended his appointment to the government. NC and UML first supported the appointment at a high-powered body of four parties and withdraw it amid differences in the parties. nnnni. KOREAN WOMAN REGISTERS RAPE CHARGE WITH POLICE Kathmandu, 7 April: A Korean woman has registered a charge of rape by a compatriot with police at Banepa, published reports said. The incident occurred at Nagarkot. . Bei Young Park ,50, who has been accused by Jin Hi Park, 34, has gone missing. The man and woman occupied separate rooms in the same hotel. nnnn. PRESIDENT ASKS FINANCE MINISTER TO INVESTIGATE REPORTED IRREGULARITIES OF BHATTARAI GOVT. IN FUND MISMANAGEMENT Kathamandu, 7 April: Expressing serious concern over the misuse of state funds by the previous government, President Ram Baran Yadav has instructed the Ministry of Finance to publicise the names of beneficiaries, The Kathmandu Post writes.. President Yadav on Friday drew the attention of Finance Minister Shankar Koirala and Finance Secretary Shanta Raj Subedi when the duo went to meet him at Sheetal Niwas to appraise preparations for this year’s budget. President Yadav was referring to media reports claiming that million of rupees were distributed by the previous government under the non-budgetary title to cadres and organisations run by sympathisers. “There is no mechanism to scrutinise the abuse of state funds in absence of the parliament. It is the duty of the government to inform its people about the truth of the money distributed from state coffers,” President’s Press Advisor Rajendra Dahal quoted Yadav as saying. He also asked the finance minister and the secretary to share information on the proper use and misuse of state funds. Earlier, following the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly in March last year, the Baburam Bhattarai government and the opposition parties were in a tug of war over a proclamation of the budget for new fiscal year. The coalition government had to bring in financial estimates without any new policy and programme to tame the budget crisis. President Yadav had endorsed a budget ordinance worth Rs 351.93 billions in November 2, setting a condition that barred the government from arbitrarily transferring funds and expenditures. In July, the UCPN (Maoist)-led government had introduced an advance budget worth Rs 109 billion through an ordinance. The Commission for Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (CIAA) in February had urged the Bhattarai government not to haphazardly distribute state funds. The anti-graft body had also directed the government to provide details of the distributed amounts and the recipients. The CIAA also intervened in the Cabinet’s decision to release Rs 6 million to the Marxist Study Centre headed by UCPN (M) Politburo leader Sonam Sathi. In February, the government allocated Rs 50 million to the Impoverished Citizen Investment Fund and Rs 459,000 for the chairperson and members of the National Dalit Commission (NDC). The NDC is headed by Sushila Sherpaili, who is said to be a Maoist sympathiser. Similarly, the government released Rs 5 million to the Ghanshyam Martyrs Memorial Academy and the Film Development Fund each. On Friday, Yadav also noted that it is the government’s responsibility to ensure the accountability of state funds. He said the delay in unveiling the current fiscal year’s budget created confusion among people over actual allocation under various headings as the red book was not prepared and circulated in time. nnnn