Now that the names of the big tax dodgers and money launderers in the country have been made public by the Center for Investigative Journalism, Nepal, does the KP Oli government have the resolve to punish them? On the list of those who have invested abroad (it is illegal for Nepali citizens to do so), there is only a handful of politicians or their relatives. This should make it easier to marshal political consensus for prosecution. But even though top political leaders have been spared this time, among those named are the biggest businessmen and entrepreneurs of Nepal.This could be problematic because big business and politics have a close nexus. As our elections get more expensive, a huge sum is needed for a candidate to have a decent shot at winning. Reportedly, to contest a seat for the federal parliament, a major party candidate has to spend at least Rs 2-3 million—most of which comes from rich people like Binod Chaudhary and Upendra Mahato, both of whom are implicated via their associates in the latest CIJ Nepal exposé.

 There is no record of sums remitted out of Nepal informally in the form of hundi

Moreover, the current revelations—that Nepalis have deposited over Rs 52 billion in Swiss banks—represent only the tip of the iceberg. There is no accounting of the money siphoned off to neighbor­ing India, for instance. Nor is there any record of sums remitted out of Nepal informally in the form of hundi. Again, one reason no big politician features among the 55 Nepalis exposed this time could be that they are far too clever to park their ill-gotten wealth in Swiss banks and are rather using informal channels to expatriate their money—which is often later laun­dered back into the country as FDI.

People are not hopeful. The media have relentlessly writ­ten about the irregularities in the purchase of two Airbus aircraft—and which have been established by a parliamentary sub-committee no less—and yet the government has done nothing. Nor has there been much headway in prosecution on other big corruption cases like Sikta and Nepal Oil Corpo­ration. The ‘medical mafia’ that Dr Govinda KC rages against seems untouchable. It would thus be a miracle if any of those implicated in parking money abroad and/or laundering them back is punished. Those in power know the rot runs deep. They fear any attempt at fixing it could bring the whole gov­ernment edifice tumbling down.