After the parliamentary probe committee failed to find alleged entry of unauthorized persons in the Finance Ministry on the eve of budget announcement, experts have suggested the panel conduct a polygraph test of former Finance Minister Janardan Sharma and the staffers of the Ministry involved in making the budget to find the truth behind the incident.
Former Home Secretary Govinda Prasad Kusum said that the investigation can be done by other methods to find whether the CCTV footage has been deleted or not.
He said that the authority can also take call records of the accused.
“No one can take the call detail records without taking permission from the concerned authority. It can be taken in a secret way if the investigation does not reach a conclusion,” he said, adding, “There is a provision to take call detail records in the issues of public concern and national security.”
He was of the opinion that it is a violation of the law to say that the hard drive could store the data for only 13 days or 16 days.
Former Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Nepal Police Hemanta Malla Thakuri said that both the Parliament and the government are heading towards the wrong path in the finance minister case.
He said that the investigation has not reached a logical conclusion as the parliamentary committee took the wrong way instead of carrying out the investigation by calling police.
“The government had to protect the scene and the evidence soon after the incident came to light,” he said, adding, “The evidence of the incident is not limited to the Finance Ministry.”
Thakuri was of the opinion that the Parliament had made a mistake not by directing the government to conduct investigation of the incident site.
“The Parliament should have taken the help of Nepal Police. The Parliament and the government did not think it was necessary,” he said.
The former DIG suggested an investigation of the incident site.
He went on to say that it is important to take the call detail records and track the location.
Thakuri further said that the parliamentary committee has not fully utilized its rights yet.
“The committee should have made the working procedure. It has the right. Why didn’t the committee use it? This is a matter of doubt,” he said.
