Nepal anti-graft body begins probe in Maoist ‘salary scam’

Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Source: File/Reuters)

In a probe that is certain to bring within its ambit top Maoist leaders including Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” and Vice-President Nanda Kishor Pun, the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Authority (CIAA), an anti-corruption constitutional body, Friday said that the investigation into the alleged corruption in disbursment of salaries and allowances in the Maoist cantonment has begun.

CIAA spokesperson Ganesh Karki said top leaders of the Maoist party would be asked to depose before the commission within 30 days. He, however, refused to disclose names.

The CIAA announcement is largely seen as a sequel to a Supreme Court order reopening the hearing on questionning CIAA chief Lokman Singh Karku’s appointment to the post.

The scandal involves alleged siphoning of allowances of 19,000 Maoist combatants kept in cantonment during the peace process. Some combatants had alleged that their salaries had never reached them for five years.