Nepal’s Supreme Court paves way for investigation against two former Prime Ministers

The Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Nepal’s anti-corruption body, has often cited a 2006 decision by the GP Koirala-led cabinet that stopped it from investigating any decision approved by cabinets. According to that decision, such moves should be treated as “policy decisions”.

The cabinet of the former Prime Minister Madhav Nepal, who was in power from 2009 to 2011, is accused of allocating government land to fake tenants.

His successor, Dr Baburam Bhattarai, who held the mandate between 2011 and 2013, is accused of allotting a plot to a guthi — indigenous trust — that allegedly never existed.

Legal experts suggest the verdict will have far-reaching consequences. The CIAA will now be obliged into taking up multiple pending cases or complaints of corruption against half-a-dozen leaders.