Lalita Niwas scam probe: People have every right to know uncensored truth

An important corruption case that has been under investigation in Nepal for a number of years is the Lalita Niwas land-grab. The scam involves the unauthorized sale of public land in Baluwatar, Kathmandu to private parties.

The official residence of Nepal's Prime Minister, the main office of the Nepal Rastra Bank, and several other VVIP addresses are located close by. The probe has gotten more serious in recent months with many people detained in connection with the scam, including Min Bahadur Gurung, the proprietor of Bhatbhateni Supermarket, and former election commissioner Sudhir Shah. In response to a recent writ petition, the Supreme Court had ordered that the top decision-makers involved in the land ownership transfer process should also be brought under the purview of the investigation, not just those involved in paperwork. 

That order gave an impetus to the ongoing police probe into the scam.  

This probe under Nepal Police’s Central Investigation Bureau is testing the resolve of the Nepali state against corruption, policy corruption in particular. 

In the course of the probe, CIB has gotten hold of a cache of fraudulent documents, phony government stamps, and land ownership records. The CIB inquiry has shown that the Lalita Niwas land grab fraud was a well-organized scheme in which the defendants transferred government land to private individuals by abusing their authority.

After the apex court order, CIB recently questioned former prime ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal and Baburam Bhattarai in connection with decisions pertaining to the Lalita Niwas land transfer made during their premiership (25 May 2009-6 Feb 2011 and 29 Aug 2011-14 March 2013). But rumors that a CIB official visited the ex-PMs’ residences for questioning has made people wonder if this is a proper and credible way of conducting a probe. 

It should be noted that the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, while probing the Lalita Niwas scam earlier, had exempted Nepal and Bhattarai stating that the Cabinet’s policy decisions were beyond the purview of its investigation, citing Section 4 of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority Act. The court order and the CIB investigation have given the public fed up with endemic corruption and political instability a glimmer of hope. 

The Nepali public has every right to know the whole truth vis-a-vis the scam, including the guilty parties.

A free, fair and credible probe and the prosecution of those proven guilty will send a clear message that corruption is not tolerable in this country. It will also increase the public's trust toward the government. 

If political meddling botches the probe, it will deal a huge blow to Nepal's fight against corruption.