Investigation team maintains soft corner towards high-ranking leaders

Now investigations into three different corruption cases are in progress. They are related to Lalita Niwas land scam, the smuggling of gold and the doctors possessing fake certificates. However, no high-profile leaders have been booked in these cases. Although the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police arrested Nepali Congress lawmaker Sunil Sharma on a fake certificate case, he was released on a court order.

Considering these all things, people are fearing the investigation into corrupt cases will not be effective.

Media have been reporting the involvement of powerful leaders of the ruling party in gold smuggling, Lalita Niwas scam, but they have not been arrested or interrogated yet, and this has disappointed the public.

Instead of concluding the cases of the gold scam and Lalita Niwas, the government has recently arrested a few doctors for having fake certificates. But when the CIB arrested a genuine doctor and a lawmaker of NC, the act is likely to misfire. The arrest of Sunil Sharma, an NC lawmaker has caused a visible division in the NC which could culminate in the collapse of the present coalition government if the issue is not sorted out.

Although Dr Bhattarai recently said that all culprits involved in corruption should be booked, the CIB has not issued a warrant against Dr Bhattarai and CPN (Unified Socialist) chair Madhav Kumar Nepal.

Similarly, Maoist leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara, who is accused of involving in the gold smuggling case, said that unnecessary publicity has been done against him relating to the alleged gold smuggling scam.

Speaking with journalists in Ghorahi of Dang on Tuesday, leader Mahara demanded with the government to begin a fair investigation in the case in which he was dragged and accused repeatedly alleging involvement of him and his son.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said on Tuesday that the police would clarify whether Mahara and his son had been involved in the gold smuggling case. During a meeting with editors on Tuesday, the PM said this while stating that he was committed to maintaining good governance in the country.

The soft corner shown to powerful leaders of the ruling parties is likely to weaken the cases.

A meeting of the ruling alliance was held at Baluatar on Monday to discuss the issue of investigation against top brass leaders.