Nepal: Probe agency interrogates former Prime Ministers Bhattarai, Madhav Nepal in connection with land scam

Kathmandu [Nepal], August 21 : The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police has interrogated former PM duo Baburam Bhattarai and Madhav Kumar Nepal in connection with the Lalita Niwas land grab case.
The two former Prime Ministers were interrogated by the investigating agency on Sunday night, Baburam Bhattarai informed on social media post on 'X' (formerly known as Twitter) on Monday.
“In accordance with my public commitment from the beginning, I have fulfilled my duty by giving the truth to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CIB) about the questions raised regarding the decision of the Council of Ministers of my time in the Lalita Niwas case! I hope that this case will be a starting point to end all forms of corruption and irregularity in the country and guarantee good governance,” former PM Bhattarai stated.
The move by the investigation body comes ahead of the formal submission of the above-cited case to the district government attorney’s office exempting the two former Prime Ministers. But the Supreme Court earlier on 6th August had ordered authorities to launch an investigation against members of the then Cabinet for their alleged involvement in making decisions to transfer the ownership of the Lalita Niwas land in Baluwatar in the name of private individuals.
The top court’s order had opened the door for investigations against the then prime ministers Nepal and Bhattarai for their alleged involvement in the scam. Nepal was prime minister from May 25, 2009, to February 6, 2011. Similarly, Bhattarai was prime minister from August 29, 2011, to March 14, 2012.
Both the former prime ministers admitted that the government land was captured by the land mafia when they took the decision believing the proposal from the ministry. They argued that they had no intention of grabbing the land and taking illegal benefits from it, adding that they would cooperate in bringing the guilty to book.
On the other hand, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had decided to not lodge corruption cases against the former PM duo- Bhattarai and Nepal citing they had only taken policy decisions.
But the anti-graft agency has lodged cases against then physical infrastructure and planning minister Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar for taking the proposal for expansion of the PM’s s residence in Baluwatar that facilitated the land grab but exempted the then PM Madhav Kumar Nepal.
Similarly, the then land reforms minister Chandra Dev Joshi was also charged in the case while Bhattarai who chaired the Cabinet when Joshi was minister was spared as well as Bishnu Paudel from the opposition CPN-UML (Communist Party of Nepal- Unified Marxist Leninist).
The constitutional anti-graft body had said it did not have powers to prosecute former government heads for policy decisions while Paudel was spared as the land belonging to his son was returned. The Cabinet decisions made on the proposal of the ministries concerned on April 11, 2010, May 14, 2010, August 13, 2010, and October 4, 2012, to give legality to illegal activities carried out by different ministries and offices about the government land inside
Lalita Niwas camp and to illegally establish ownership and rights of individuals on the government land are not in the jurisdiction of the CIAA being policy decisions taken collectively by the council of ministers, the CIAA stated in its charge sheet. We, therefore, do not need to do anything about the prime minister duo Madhav Kumar Nepal and Baburam Bhattarai."
The probe committee formed by the government under former secretary Sharada Prasad Trital had submitted the report to the government in December 2018 concluding that the land transferred to individuals in Baluwatar belonged to the government.
The committee's report stated that the government land inside Lalita Residence reached different individuals due to Cabinet decisions under many prime ministers. It had recommended that the land should be taken back by revoking a few of those Cabinet decisions.
CPN General Secretary Bishnu Paudel was also dragged in the scam as eight annas of grabbed land (plot numbers 309 and 3015) had been transferred to his son from Uma Dhakal and Madhavi Subedi, wives of Shobha Kanta Dhakal and Ram Prasad Subedi identified as land mafia by the Trital committee.
The committee stated that the then king Mahendra after the coup in 1961 had confiscated 14 Ropanis land of Nepali Congress leader Suvarna Shumsher Rana and his father Kanchan Shumsher in Baluwatar. The government four years later acquired 285 Ropanis of Rana's land in Baluwatar by paying compensation.
The residences of the Nepal PM, the chief justice, the Speaker residence and the central office of Nepal Rastra Bank are currently situated in 172 Ropanis out of that 285 Ropanis. Land mafia in connivance with staffers at the Land Revenue Office has transferred ownership of the remaining 113 ropanis of land to different individuals, the committee has concluded.