Audiotape could be genuine: UCPN (Maoist)

REPUBLICA

KATHMANDU, Sept 13: In its first official reaction to the controversial audiotape scandal allegedly involving Maoist leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara and a Chinese official, the UCPN (Maoist) has said the tape could be genuine but asserted that tapping phone lines of political leaders is an attack on national security and violation of individual´s right to secrecy.

"It may be genuine, and it may not be. But the episode reveals the status of our national security and individual´s right to secrecy," said Maoist spokesperson Dinanath Sharma after the conclusion of the party Central Committee (CC) meeting on Sunday.
"It is a serious issue as the phone tapping incident has highlighted the extent of direct interference in our internal national security by foreign powers," he added.

In the audiotape leaked to the media just two days before the seventh round of voting to elect a new prime minister, a voice purportedly of Mahara demands Rs 500 million from an unknown "Chinese man" to buy votes in parliament for electing Pushpa Kamal Dahal as prime minister.

According to Sharma, the Maoist party has information that the Indian embassy, the US embassy and the Nepal Army (NA) were involved in tapping phones of important political leaders.

Sharma argued that instead of questioning the authenticity of the tape, the incident should rather attract people´s attention as telephone conversations of political leaders are being recorded with malicious intentions and made public at sensitive times.

Sharma said the party would also conduct "internal investigations" into the episode.

Reacting to Maoist spokesperson Sharma´s Sunday´s statement, Nepali Congress (NC) General Secretary Bimalendra Nidhi said, “The Maoists by raising the issue of individual´s privacy have indirectly admitted that they had demanded money from foreigners to buy elected parliamentarians,” he said. “This is very serious issue and needs independent probe.”

Nidhi, who led a delegation of NC lawmakers demanding probe into the audiotape scandal, said Speaker Subash Nembang had assured them of a probe. “However, there has not been any progress in this regard,” he complained.

He argued that Speaker Nembang should immediately direct Parliamentary Committee on International Relations and Human Rights to take up the issue. “Several members within the Committee have also demanded in writing to take up the issue of controversial audio tape,” he further said.