Kathmandu. The government has started looking for ways to remove Santosh Narayan Shrestha, chairman of the Securities Board of Nepal. The government has started discussions on the options of removing Board Chairman Shrestha after allegations of demanding commission from power producers through middlemen to allow ipo issue.
The office-bearers of independent power producers’ association Nepal (IPPAN) have been accusing the hydropower companies of bargaining for commission through middlemen by withholding ipo approval. The power producers said they had already submitted the messages and audio to the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority( CIAA). They also said that they have submitted the evidence submitted to the CIAA to Prime Minister KP Oli.
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) raided the board on May 24 and took away all the files related to the public issue. The government has started discussing the options regarding the exit of the board chairman appointed by itself after the CIAA initiated the investigation process.
According to sources, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is concerned about the options for the exit of the board chairman. For this, more options have been sought through the Ministry of Finance, the source said.
The government is likely to ask Board Chairman Shrestha to resign and pave the way. If not, a committee can be formed to investigate the decisions taken by Chairman Shrestha after taking charge. Apart from this, the government also has the option of forming a parliamentary inquiry committee as demanded by the opposition. In parliament, the opposition has been continuously raising the demand for an investigation into the activities of the board. CpN (Maoist Centre) lawmaker Madhav Sapkota, RASTRIYA Prajatantra Party’s Roshan Karki and Rastriya Prajatantra Party’s Hari Dhakal, among others, have demanded an inquiry against the chairman of the board.
Boycotting board meetings
The Securities Board of Nepal has a seven-member board of directors headed by Chairman Santosh Narayan Shrestha. Joint Secretary mahesh Baral from the Ministry of Finance, Joint Secretary Binod Kumar Bhattarai from the Ministry of Law and Rewati Prasad Nepal, Executive Director of Nepal Rastra Bank are the directors of the committee.
Nil Saru Magar from ICAN, Gokarna Raj Awasthi from Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Bhola Nath Dhungana from Expert Director are the directors. The government also has the option of forcing Chairman Shrestha to resign by making the majority of the directors absent from the board meeting. Even now, some board members are boycotting the board meeting.
Members of the board of directors have been agitated after the board of directors started calling a meeting to start the process of issuing licenses to the new stock exchange even when there was a public allegation of demanding commission and the CIAA raided and taken away the file.
Some of the operators who came in contact with Singha Durbar said that there is a moral crisis to participate in the meeting to be chaired by Shrestha. “He is getting involved in new controversies every day, issues have been raised in parliament, the CIAA has started an investigation, in such a situation, how to go to the meeting under his leadership? How to witness decisions? We have a long career left. A board operator told Singha Durbar.
Mahesh Baral and Binod Kumar Bhattarai, joint secretaries with a long career left in the civil service, are the board directors. At the same time, the authority and other agencies keep a close watch on the civil servants. The CIAA can sue them at any time even if they stay at home after completing their working life.
Nilsaru Magar, a chartered accountant by profession, is the vice-president of ICAN. Nil Saru Magar, considered close to Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel, has been telling his close aides about his dream of contesting elections in the future.
Gokarna Raj Awasthi is currently the Director General of The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry( FNCCI). His name was also included in the list of those who will now become governors. Similarly, Bholanath Dhungana, who has a legal background, also left the job of company secretary of Kumari Bank and went to become a board director.
Except for a few characters in the board of directors, the chances of anyone giving up their golden future and supporting Chairman Shrestha and witnessing the license distribution process of the new stock exchange are now minimal.
प्रतिक्रिया दिनुहोस्