Kamal Ghorui
In an unprecedented move, the newly formed govt led by PM Balendra Shah in Nepal has set up a five-member judicial panel to investigate the assets of people who held public offices from 2006 to the fiscal year 2025-26, opening the widest scrutiny yet of the country’s post-monarchy political and bureaucratic elite.The move will bring under its lens former king Gyanendra Shah, three presidents, all heads of govt since 2005-06, including two interim arrangements, and a much wider pool of ministers, constitutional office-bearers and senior bureaucrats.Those expected to come under its lens include former presidents Ram Baran Yadav and Bidya Devi Bhandari, and current president Ram Chandra Paudel; former PMs Girija Prasad Koirala, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Madhav Kumar Nepal, Jhala Nath Khanal, Baburam Bhattarai, KP Sharma Oli and Sher Bahadur Deuba; and the two interim heads of govt – Khilraj Regmi and Sushila Karki.The widening frame also cast attention on figures linked to Shah’s own political ecosystem, with the expected scope said to include current speaker Dol Prasad Aryal, ministers Birajbhakt Shrestha and Shishir Khanal, and Rastriya Swatantra Party chief Rabi Lamichhane, who held public posts in earlier dispensations. The inquiry is also expected to extend to the assets of deceased leaders, bringing the families and political heirs of figures such as Girija Prasad Koirala and Sushil Koirala under scrutiny.The five-member commission, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Rajendra Kumar Bhandari, was formed weeks after Shah’s Rastriya Swatantra Party swept the March 5 election on the back of last year’s youth-led anti-corruption protests.Cabinet spokesperson Sasmit Pokhrel said the judicial panel would investigate the assets of political office-bearers and senior officials based on law and evidence. “An impartial investigation will be carried out based on evidence according to legal standards… Its report and recommendations will be implemented by concerned agencies of govt,” he said.
