सिंहदरबार संवाददाता
Kathmandu. Three secretaries, including the Chief Secretary, have come under the radar of the Authority regarding the issue of permission for the new stock exchange. The employees of two powerful business families fighting each other have been targeted.
The Securities and Exchange Board of Nepal is currently studying the report prepared by Chintamani Siwakoti to grant permission for the new stock. Even the employees of the board are panicking as the pressure from interest groups on the board to finalize the permission within 15 days has increased.
A complaint has been filed with the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority alleging that there was a manipulation of five billion rupees in the appointment of the Securities and Exchange Board Chairman and the new stock exchange. The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority has taken action on the complaint. However, sources claim that the interest groups have put intense pressure on the complaint not to proceed with the investigation.
An authority source told Singha Durbar, “The commission is serious about the corruption in the approval process of the new stock exchange. Just because an investigation is being conducted does not mean that one person will always remain in power. As soon as one person becomes weak, the investigation reaches a dead end.”
According to the authority source, the new stock exchange is the biggest example of policy-based corruption in Nepal.
KP Oli’s speech.. And the process moved forward
After the case was registered in the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court in the process of granting permission to the new stock exchange, Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel had gone to meet Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. He had gone to discuss with the Prime Minister after pressure from all sides increased on Finance Minister Poudel.
A high-ranking source told Singha Durbar, “The minister had gone to meet the Prime Minister after the case was registered in the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Bench. The minister has moved forward after Prime Minister Oli said that he had already given his word to Sher Bahadur Deuba.”
As soon as Minister Poudel met the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Finance wrote a letter to the Board as per the decision of the Council of Ministers on Poush 5. However, within a few months of writing the letter to the Board, the then Finance Secretary Dr. Ram Prasad Ghimire was transferred. Ghimire, who had agreed to allow new stocks as the first condition for becoming Finance Secretary, was transferred from Finance to the Board as soon as the letter was received. According to ministry sources, Secretary Ghimire had been in the Ministry as a representative of a middleman group.
Chief Secretary and 2 Secretaries Under CIAA’s Radar
The then Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ had decided on 26 Baisakh 2080 from the Council of Ministers to stop the entire process of licensing the new stock exchange and asked for further study. Prachanda had also gone to Parliament on the same day and claimed that the capital market had been destroyed by destroying billions and trillions of rupees. A study committee was formed under the leadership of former Deputy Governor of the National Bank, Chintamani Siwakoti, to study the decision.
The committee submitted a report to the then Prime Minister Dahal. The report includes the issue of restructuring the Nepal Stock Exchange and issuing new stocks. To implement the report, Prime Minister Oli has sent the report to the Ministry of Finance by taking a decision from the Council of Ministers on Poush 5. In that decision, Chief Secretary Ek Narayan Aryal, then Finance Secretary Dr. Ram Prasad Ghimire and Revenue Secretary Dinesh Ghimire have come under the radar of the authority. The authority understands that the two secretaries, including the Chief Secretary, took the decision under pressure from middlemen.
Narayan Risal transferred after writing an 18-page opinion
Narayan Prasad Risal, head of the Financial Sector Management and Institutional Coordination Division of the Ministry of Finance, has been transferred. According to a Finance Ministry source, Joint Secretary Risal was transferred after Deputy Secretary Devananda Kafle of the same division wrote an 18-page opinion that new stocks should not be allowed. Joint Secretary Risal had emphasized the need for restructuring of the Nepal Stock Exchange. A Finance Ministry source said, “The Corporations Division had prepared an 18-page long opinion after the new stock licensing process moved forward to weaken NEPSE. Joint Secretary Risal was transferred after the intermediary group received that information.”
A case has been filed in the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court alleging that the process of granting licenses to the new stock exchange is not in accordance with the law. Law student Krishna Bahadur Thapa filed the case on Poush 23, alleging that there was a legal error in distributing licenses for the new stock. The next hearing of the case, registered with registration number 081-wc-0035, has been scheduled for Falgun 21.
The first hearing was scheduled for Magh 9, but the hearing could not be held due to lack of time. The writ petition is now being heard on Falgun 21 in a bench headed by Chief Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut of the Supreme Court. The senior-most judges in the constitutional bench headed by the Chief Justice are Sapana Pradhan Malla, Kumar Regmi, Dr. Manoj Kumar Sharma and Dr. Kumar Chudal.
The writ petition states that the Securities Board of Nepal is trying to establish a corporate body to operate the securities market by misinterpreting Section 118 of the Securities Act, 2063. The hearing of this case has been fixed for Falgun 21.
The writ petition claims that the board has issued the ‘Directive on Providing Recommendations by the Board to Establish a Corporate Body to Operate the Securities Market, 2079’, using its power not provided in the law. The directive is in conflict with Section 118 of the Securities Act, 2063, and therefore, the directive on providing recommendations from the board to establish a corporate body for the operation of the securities market, 2079, has been demanded to be canceled.
On 1 Poush 2081, activist Rajan Sharma Parajuli, on behalf of the Youth Campaign Against Corruption, has filed a complaint with the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, alleging policy corruption in the license of the new stock. The complaint number with the Authority is c-035384/2081/09. The complainant Sharma has claimed that he has presented the basis and some facts about how a five billion rupee commission game is being played in the license case of the new stock exchange.
Two business houses are currently competing to get the license of the new stock. Himalayan Stock businessman Deepak Bhatta is doing it. Meanwhile, National Stock is being led by businessmen, including businessman Upendra Mahato.
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‘5 billion rupees corruption in new stock license, land taken as collateral’ – MP Parajuli
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