Following the parliamentary probe committee’s findings that it could not find any evidence of wrongdoing, news reports are suggesting Janardhan Sharma could be reinstated Finance Minister.
On 13th June, 2022, a news report by the Annapurna Post had alleged then Finance Minister Janardhan Sharma had invited two outsiders to the Ministry of Finance on the night of 28th May, 2022 to manipulate tax rates – a day before he was scheduled to make the budget speech of Fiscal Year 2022/23 in the House of Representatives. Following the allegations, there were widespread calls to release CCTV footage, but the office maintained the CCTV footage had been overwritten on as the hard disk drive could only store content of up to 13 days.
Amidst increasing criticism, Janardhan Sharma stepped down on 6th July, 2022. A eleven member special parliamentary probe committee was formed to investigate the allegations. On July 29, the committee its investigation and evidence could not confirm the attendance of the two outsiders on the night of 28th May.
Meanwhile, leading national news publications have been reporting Chair of Maoist Centre Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Sunday morning met with Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to recommend Sharma be reinstated Finance Minister.
