High-level commission to be formed to probe gold smuggling incidences

Kathmandu, Aug 23: The nationally-recognized political parties represented in the parliament have agreed to form a commission for investigating into the gold smuggling cases so far. A meeting of these parties held today at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers has agreed to constitute such commission next month. The Chief Whips of seven various political parties represented in the parliament have signed on the agreement to this end.

Agreement has been reached according to which the government will form a commission this September 22 to conduct an independent and fair investigation into the smuggling of goods including gold into the country that has been taking place from time to time, taking the matter seriously. The commission to be formed as per the Investigation Commission Act, 2026 BS will be tasked with also studying the studies carried out in connection with such smuggling cases and submit its report along with recommendations.

The commission will start its work from September 22 itself. The Department of Revenue Investigation had, on July 19, confiscated a large cache of gold smuggled in through Tribhuvan International Airport from Sinamangal. The main opposition party, CPN (UML) has been continuously obstructing the parliament taking over the issue and calling for a high-level investigation committee to probe it.

It is believed that the deadlock in parliament would be removed after the agreement reached among the major parties today. It is believed that the commission will not influence the investigation being carried out by the Nepal Police’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB). The commission shall also submit to the government suggestions related to policy reforms to be made to prevent the smuggling.

As per the agreement, CIB itself shall carry out impartial investigation and bring those involved in the smuggling into the ambit of legal action and also prosecute them. Chief Whips of the Nepali Congress, the CPN (UML), the CPN (Maoist Centre), the Rastriya Swatantra Party, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, the Janata Samjbadi Party and the Janamat Party respectively Ramesh Lekhak, Padam Giri, Hitraj Pandey, Santosh Pariyar, Gyan Bahadur Shahi, Pradip Yadav and Abdul Khan have signed on the agreement. Prime Minister Dahal, Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN (UML) Chair KP Sharma Oli, among top leaders had participated in the meeting.