Nepal's central probe agency interrogates 2 former prime ministers in Lalita Niwas land grab scam

Nepal's top probe agency has interrogated former prime ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal and Baburam Bhattarai for the first time for their alleged roles in the high-profile Lalita Niwas land grab scam, the investigative agency said on Monday.

The land grab scam took place during the prime ministerships of Nepal and Bhattarai, as the Cabinet headed by them made policy-level decisions in the matter.

Nepal and Bhattarai were interrogated on Sunday night in connection with the ongoing investigation into the scam, the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) spokesperson Navaraj Adhikari said.

It is alleged that a huge area of valuable land belonging to the government was grabbed by some brokers with the help of senior government officials and some politicians by creating fictitious owners.

The CIB officials of the Nepal Police have recorded the statements from Nepal and Bhattarai in connection with the land-grab scam involving valuable land pieces adjoining the Prime Minister’s official residence at Baluwatar in Kathmandu, he said.

This is the first time that the CIB has taken statements from the former prime ministers in the case.

Madhav Kumar Nepal is currently the chair of the CPN (Unified Socialist) party, while Bhattarai heads the Nepal Samajbadi Party. Nepal was prime minister from May 25, 2009 to February 6, 2011, whereas Bhattarai was prime minister from August 29, 2011 to March 14, 2012.

Lalita Niwas covers some 300 ropanis (around 37 acres) of land and includes the prime minister’s residence, Nepal Rastra Bank central office and some other residences of key government officials, according to a report in The Kathmandu Post newspaper.

There are allegations that the Nepal Cabinet had allowed the transfer of government land to individuals. And the Bhattarai Cabinet allowed the registration of the land in the name of a fake trust named Pashupati Tikinchha Guthi.

On February 5, 2020, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) brought corruption charges against 175 individuals in connection with the land grab.

However, the constitutional anti-graft body had spared a number of key people, including former prime ministers Nepal and Bhattarai, even though it admitted that the decisions to illegally transfer the government land into private hands were taken during their tenures.

The CIAA had said that the former prime ministers were not implicated as the decisions were the Cabinet’s policy decisions, over which it has no jurisdiction. Policy decisions refer to decisions made by political parties based on their election manifestos, based on which they contest elections.

The commission did not implicate Nepal and Bhattarai based on Section 4 of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority Act, which says the anti-graft body cannot investigate “policy decisions” of the Cabinet or the committees under it.

However, earlier this month, while hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by Yograj Paudel, a former civil servant arrested in connection with the scam, Nepal's Supreme Court had directed the authorities concerned to bring the prime ministers who headed the government during the transfer of the government land in the name of individuals in the Lalita Niwas case.

The division bench of justices Anil Kumar Sinha and Kumar Chudal said that no one involved in making decisions relating to the transfer of land should be spared from the investigation, according to a report in MyRepublica news portal.

“As the investigation so far focused only on the employees of the assigned level of work and those who purchased land, while leaving out those who made decisions or participated in the decision-making process from the scope of the investigation, it also put the public trust in the entire judicial system at risk,” the apex court has mentioned in its order.

Meanwhile, taking to X, formerly Twitter, former prime minister Bhattarai wrote, “I have fulfilled my duty by providing accurate information to the CIB in accordance with my public commitment from the beginning regarding inquiries raised about the decisions made by my Cabinet in the Lalita Niwas land-grab scam.”

“I hope that this case will serve as a catalyst to eliminate all forms of corruption and irregularities within the nation, thereby ensuring good governance,” he wrote.

The CIB has already taken over a dozen people, including high government officials, into custody in the case.