Kathmandu. Kathmandu: The government has advised Securities Board of Nepal Chairman Santosh Narayan Shrestha to resign and opt for a ‘graceful exit’.
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel sent a message to Shrestha through the staff administration and some close aides.
Shrestha has been accused of demanding commission from power producers through middlemen for IPO approval. The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has reached the board office on May 24 and is carrying out a detailed study by seizing the file related to the IPO issue. Meanwhile, a few days ago, the CIAA team summoned Board Chairman Shrestha to his office in Tangal and recorded his statement. “The CIAA has summoned the chairman of the board to the Tangal office and recorded his statement for a very long time,” a source in the CIAA said.
A few days ago, Revenue Secretary Dinesh Kumar Ghimire also summoned Shrestha to the ministry and conveyed his resignation and make a safe landing.
Similarly, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel also asked those close to him, “What is happening in the Securities Board? Understand better,” he said.
Campaign to send UML’s close to board
There is a lot of dissatisfaction in the UML circles after the Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank and chairman of the Insurance Authority also came under the control of the ruling Nepali Congress. Prime Minister Oli, Finance Minister Poudel and THE UML have been under tremendous pressure to remove the chairman of the Securities Board and appoint someone close to the UML after he was accused of demanding commission through middlemen.
“Under the leadership of Santosh Narayan Shrestha, the Securities Board can no longer move forward, there was a complaint with the CIAA saying that there is a game of five billion commissions in his appointment, so much was raised in the parliament, the Prime Minister himself had to talk about five billion, now the matter of commission through middlemen came again, the CIAA is investigating, now the UML should send a qualified character close to it to the board by removing him,” said a UML leader representing the economy and private sector. ।
Despite the all-round siege, attention is still on the stock’s license
Although the CIAA has raided the parliament, the issue has been raised in the parliament and the media has been constantly raising issues related to the commission, Chairman Shrestha’s focus seems to be on the distribution of licenses of the new stock exchange.
Although the CIAA raided the board on May 24 and took away the documents, Chairman Shrestha had called a board meeting on May 12 with a ‘single agenda’ for the distribution of licenses of the new stock exchange.
Gokarna Awasthi, a representative of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), representing the private sector, boycotted the meeting, while Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) director Rewati Nepal said that the process of licensing the new stock could not be carried forward. Bholanath Dhungana, an expert operator, has also said that nothing can be done about the license now.
ICAN representative Nil Saru Magar also said that nothing should be done about the license of the new stock at the moment. However, Board Chairman Shrestha is said to have put a lot of emphasis on moving ahead with the process of issuing licenses for the new stock.
Majority operator absent
Sources claimed that the government is preparing to issue an informal directive to the majority of the board members to remain absent if Shrestha does not pave the way by resigning. The board comprises Joint Secretary Mahesh Baral from the Ministry of Finance, Joint Secretary Binod Kumar Bhattarai from the Ministry of Law, Executive Director rewati Prasad Nepal from Nepal Rastra Bank, Nilsaru Magar from ICAN and Bholanath Dhungana as expert. According to sources, the Ministry of Finance has reached the mood to make Shrestha resign by making them absent from the board meeting.
The option of parliamentary inquiry committee also discuss
Lawmakers from cpn (Maoist Centre), Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) have been demanding an inquiry against Shrestha. Nepali Congress lawmaker Binod Chaudhary has also raised the issue of middlemen demanding commission in the name of board chairman in parliament. Discussions are also underway to form a parliamentary committee to conduct a detailed study of the works carried out by the Securities Board in the last one year. Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has also taken serious interest in the matter. A board meeting chaired by Chairman Shrestha has already lodged a complaint with the Accounts Committee on May 12 alleging that it had taken a controversial decision on the issue of merchant bankers against the directives given by the committee earlier.
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