Karki impeachment process stalled; charges to be probed

Kathmandu / Jan 18: The Impeachment Recommendation Committee of the Parliament on Wednesday decided to probe charges against the then Chief of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, Lok Man Singh Karki, though the impeachment motion against him would be stalled.

The Committee made a decision to stall the impeachment process as Karki was already removed from his office with a verdict from the Supreme Court.

The decision was taken after a consultation with the Attorney General Raman Kumar Shrestha today.

However, the meeting decided to go with an investigation on the charges against him as the verdict did not block the House panel from carrying out the probe, the IRC member and lawmaker Ram Narayan Bidari informed.

Shrestha had told the meeting that the IRC itself could decide on whether to proceed with the motion.

Meanwhile, the meeting also formed a three-member committee to study the charges labelled against him and furnish the Committee with a report within next 15 days.

Deepak Kuinkel of Nepali Congress, Bidari of CPN Maoist Centre and Rewati Raman Bhandari of CPN-UML are members of the panel.

Bhandari informed that the panel could even summon Karki himself during the probe.

Earlier, the House panel had invited AG Shrestha, Law Secretary Tek Prasad Dhungana and Nepal Law Commission Chair Madhav Prasad Paudel to guide it about next steps after Karki was removed from the constitutional body.

Dhungana and Paudel, however, had refused to provide the support citing they were not in the position for the same.

Paudel, who was a minister in the Khilraj Regmi-led interim government, said he would not be able to speak on the matter as he was involved in Karki’s appointment. He was also a member of Law commission when Karki installed in the CIAA as its chief amid controversies.

Law Secretary Dhungana, on the other hand, mentioned that he has already been appointed a High Court judge and was thus not in a position to offer any view regarding the impeachment motion. RSS