KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Finance has not disclosed the CCTV footage of the day before the budget speech for the fiscal year 2022/23.

The move comes as the secretary of the Consumer Interest Protection Forum Nepal Jay Prasad Poudel, under the Right to Information Act, sought CCTV footage of the day concerned.

Finance Minister Janardan Sharma had presented the budget for the fiscal year 2022/23 in the House of Representatives on May 29.

A few days after the budget was presented, it was disclosed that on the night of May 28 (the day before the budget was presented) Minister Sharma admitted two unauthorized persons into the ministry and fixed the tax rate to benefit some of the companies.

Poudel had sought CCTV footage of the Ministry of Finance on May 28. In the petition, he demanded CCTV footage from 6 pm on May 28 to 6 am on May 29.

However, in a response to Poudel on Sunday (today), the Ministry has said that footages of only 13 days are recorded in the ministry due to the capacity of the cameras installed and footages of previous days are deleted.

“We would like to inform you that only footages of the past 13 days are available as per the capacity of the camera and any previous records are gradually deleted.”

This statement of the Ministry of Finance has been found contrary to the procedure related to the installation and operation of close circuit camera implemented by the government.

The procedur states that CCTV footage should be kept safe for at least three months. But the finance ministry said there was no footage available than the past 13 days.