KATHMANDU: Rastriya Prajatantra Party parliamentary leader Gyanendra Shahi on Monday accused the government of drifting away from its commitment to good governance and demanded a parliamentary investigation into Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle over alleged manipulation of tax rates during the budget formulation process.
Addressing the House of Representatives, Shahi raised serious questions about the budget-making process and described alleged changes to tax rates as a matter of grave national concern.
He argued that previous governments led by the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML had also faced similar controversies, but investigations were often conducted by committees formed by the government itself.
“Ministers in previous governments also committed mistakes, then formed their own investigation committees and later declared themselves innocent,” Shahi said.
The RPP leader maintained that serving ministers, former ministers and senior government officials should be investigated by Parliament rather than by committees appointed by the executive branch.
“We should not allow ministers to be cleared by government-appointed investigation committees. Altering tax rates is not a minor issue,” he said.
According to Shahi, details regarding tax rate adjustments are generally known only to the finance minister, finance secretary and revenue secretary, making the issue particularly sensitive.
He also warned that the government led by Prime Minister Balen Shah was moving toward poor governance despite coming to power on a platform of transparency and accountability.
“This government was formed under the banner of good governance. It should not move toward misgovernance,” Shahi said.
Calling for an independent parliamentary inquiry, he argued that allowing the government to investigate itself would undermine accountability.
“A parliamentary investigation committee should be formed to probe the finance minister. Tampering with the budget and tax rates amounts to an act of betrayal against the state,” he said.
Shahi’s remarks come amid growing political debate over the budget process and increasing demands from opposition parties for greater parliamentary oversight of government decisions.
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