House to deliberate on tape controversy on Monday

REPUBLICA

KATHMANDU, Sept 10: The legislature-parliament will take up the recent audio tape controversy on Monday as its scheduled meeting on Thursday was postponed after the Maoists threatened to disrupt the proceedings over the proposed bill to amend Finance Act.

“We have agreed to discuss the issue during the special hour,” said CPN-UML chief whip Bhim Acharya.

The meeting was postponed till Monday after the Maoists argued that the caretaker government does not have the authority to introduce any bill. “This will set a bad precedence in our parliamentary practice. So the caretaker government should not be allowed to introduce the bill,” said Maoist chief whip Posta Bahadur Bogati.
The bill will allow the government to adjust the customs duty on the import of gold and silver on par with India, which hiked customs duty recently.

Maoists have argued that the government should rather seek alternatives, instead of introducing the bill, to adjust the customs duty and lift the current ban on gold and silver import. “We will allow the government to table the bill only if there are no alternatives,” Bogati said.

On September 7, after the seventh round of voting for a new prime minister, the parties had asked the government to seek alternatives to the amendment bill. “But the government did not respond well,” said Nepali Congress (NC) chief whip Laxman Ghimire.

If no alternatives are found by Monday, the House will deliberate on the amendment bill along with the controversial audio tape. In the audio tape leaked to the media last week, a voice supposedly of Maoist leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara asks Rs 500 million from a “Chinese man” for the party to buy some 50 lawmakers to win the prime ministerial election.

“We will vociferously raise the issue demanding an investigation,” said NC chief whip.

On September 7, Maoists had threatened to disrupt the House meeting if the tape controversy was raised, saying they were not informed in advance and so not prepared for it.

Maoist said they will also put forward their views on the tape controversy which was publicized just ahead of the seventh round of prime ministerial voting.

“If the tape is genuine, we will have so many questions to ask: who records the conversations of statesmen, who made the tape public, and which power centers are involved?” said Bogati.