KATHMANDU: The parliamentary committee formed to investigate allegations made against Minister for Finance Janardan Sharma has submitted its report to Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota on Friday.

The committee had held its meeting throughout Thursday to finalize the report.

The panel’s chair Laxman Lal Karna handed over the report to Speaker Sapkota. Karna also tabled the report in the meeting of the House of Representatives today.

The committee prepared the report after consultations with various sides. It had recorded statement from former Finance Minister Janardan Sharma, the Finance Secretary and high ranking government officials involved in budget preparation.

The committee’s report comes after 17 days of investigation.

Minister Sharma has been accused of allowing entry of unauthorized persons into the Finance Ministry to manipulate tax rates in the budget of fiscal year 2022/23 on May 28 — a day before the budget was announced.

Finance Minister Sharma tendered his resignation after the parliament on July 6 formed an 11-member investigation special committee to investigate his involvement in the matter.

Meanwhile, the committee’s report has given clean chit to Sharma as involvement of unauthorized persons in altering tax rates could not be proved.

The committee formed under the convenorship of Karna comprised of Khaga Raj Adhikari, Dev Prasad Gurung, Pushpa Bhusal (Gautam), Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Bhanubhakta Dhakal, Bimala BK, Shakti Bahadur Basnet, Sitaram Mahato, Sarala Kumari Yadav and Surendra Prasad Yadav.