Three major political parties—the Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML and the Rastriya Swatantra Party—appear to be inching closer to setting up a parliamentary committee to investigate the multi-billion-rupee cooperatives scam. But they are still grappling with specifics of the terms of reference for the committee that is supposed to look into the crisis affecting over a dozen credit cooperatives across the country.

Taskforce members said the parties could finalise the ToR by Saturday. This happened after the main opposition Nepali Congress—which had been insisting on exclusively investigating Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane over his involvement in the scam—apparently agreed to avoid the mention of Lamichhane in the committee’s terms of reference (TOR).

The taskforce is scheduled to meet at 3 pm on Saturday.

Leaders, however, have agreed to mention in the TOR the names of the three cooperatives based in Chitwan, Kaski and Butwal that are linked to Lamichhane, taskforce members told the Post on condition of anonymity.

Several investigations carried by the police and local units had found that millions of rupees had been transferred to the bank account of

Lamichhane, who operated the new defunct television station Gorkha Media Network. Lamichhane denies any wrongdoing.

The Congress has been obstructing parliamentary proceedings for the past few months demanding a parliamentary probe into Lamicchane’s involvement syphoning off millions in cooperative funds to bankroll the television station. Five other opposition parties have also joined the Congress in demanding investigation into Lamichhane.

On Friday, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Nepali Congress top leaders, and CPN-UML Chairman KP Oli met at the prime minister's residence after the taskforce-level meeting of the three parties. The taskforce comprises Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Padam Giri of the UML, UML Chief Whip Mahesh Bartaula, Congress leaders Gyanendra Bahadur Karki and Jeevan Pariyar, plus Shishir Khanal of the Rastriya Swatantra Party.

Lamichhane, who was not present at the top leaders’ meeting on Friday, later visited UML chief Oli’s residence at Balkot, according to sources.

UML Chief Whip Bartaula said that the top leaders of the three parties agreed to show maximum flexibility to arrive at a consensus on the TOR.

Meanwhile, sources told the Post that UML chief Oli maintained a conspicuous silence throughout the three-party meeting. Oli has been flatly rejecting the idea of investigating the home minister.

“We are against forming a person-centric parliamentary committee altogether, but after the Congress agreed to avoid mentioning Lamichhane’s name in the TOR, we are now working to reach a consensus on investigating the cooperatives scam,” Bartaula said.

When the cooperative scam surfaced a few months ago and the Nepali Congress demanded a parliamentary investigation, the three ruling parties had rejected the proposal. They were particularly opposed to the idea of a parliamentary committee targeting an individual, arguing that it would set a bad precedent.

“Now the ball is in the Congress’ court,” Bartaula said.

According to a Congress leader, both sides agreed to investigate three cooperatives linked to the home minister, and others including the office bearers of these cooperatives and businesses associated with them.

Nepali Congress Chief Whip Ramesh Lekhak said talks at the top leaders’ level and within the taskforce were headed in a positive direction, and his party has raised some specific concerns with the prime minister.

The Nepali Congress leaders questioned the prime minister regarding the arrest of Kantipur Media Group Chairman Kailash Sirohiya. Similarly they sought a response from the prime minister to the personal attacks made by Home Minister Lamichhane against some Congress leaders.

“Our party is serious about the way the home minister made unsubstantiated charges against the Nepali Congress leaders,” said Lekhak. “We have also drawn the prime minister’s attention and clearly told him that we need answers.”

On May 20, while speaking in the House of Representatives, and without naming Gagan Thapa, the Congress general secretary, Lamichhane accused him of selling the country’s secrets to foreigners. Citing media reports, he also claimed that Thapa had embezzled millions of rupees under the pretext of constructing a park at the Tri-Chandra College and misused agricultural grants.

He also asked whether the main opposition would want a probe panel to investigate those accused of grabbing the land of Bansbari Leather and Shoe Factory, illegally registering public land in Tikapur under individuals’ names, a luxury watch theft, or selling diplomatic passports.

“Not just those who hold two or three citizenships, but those ‘foreign agents’ with only one citizenship and passport who sell the country’s secrets must be ousted from lawmaker roles,” Lamichhane had said.

“These issues and accusations against the Nepali Congress leaders are grave,” said Lekhak after the meeting with the prime minister. “Either the home minister should prove them or he should face action.”

With both the government and Lamichanne not wanting to listen to complaints, the main opposition has been trying to bring together all opposition parties in order to protest both in the House and on the streets. On Sunday, the Congress is holding protests against cooperative scams in the three districts of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur.