A new proposal forwarded by the Nepali Congress has delayed the formation of the much-touted parliamentary committee to probe the cooperatives scam.

A meeting of top leaders including Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal will sit on Sunday to discuss the main opposition’s proposal.

In a meeting of the task force on Saturday, the Congress agreed to not naming Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane in the to-be-formed committee’s terms of reference (ToR) but wants to mention the name of the cooperatives from which Lamichhane received money when he was the managing director of the Gorkha Media Network that operated the now-shuttered Galaxy 4K television.

“But we want to name the cooperatives that Lamichhane received the money from, as well as the office bearers of those cooperatives,” said Jeevan Pariyar of the Nepali Congress who represents the party in the task force that includes leaders from the ruling CPN-UML and Rastriya Swatantra Party. In order to finalise the terms of reference of the parliamentary committee, the three parties formed a task force coordinated by Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Padam Giri.

On Sunday morning, Prime Minister Dahal, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli will meet to give the final touches to the terms and reference of the parliamentary probe.

Home Minister Lamichhane allegedly misappropriated millions of rupees taken as loans from various cooperatives in Pokhara, Butwal and Chitwan. Lamichhane denies the changes.

“We have more or less agreed on the ToR of the proposed parliamentary committee,” Giri said. “But it will be finalised by the top leaders.”

The Nepali Congress wants to name the cooperatives that the home minister received loans from and the office bearers of those cooperatives in the ToR, said Giri.

“It has been tentatively agreed to mention the name of the cooperatives concerned and the companies that received their loans,” Giri said. Mentioning the names of the cooperatives and the companies that borrowed from them in the ToR may address the Congress demand, he suggested.

“We are near a conclusion. If we name the companies, the office bearers of the cooperatives whose funds were misused and those involved in embezzling the funds will surface automatically,” said Giri, the task force coordinator. “Our understanding is that if we name the cooperatives and the companies, it is not necessary to name their office bearers.”

Pariyar of the Congress said they have settled most of the issues but a final decision will be taken by the top leaders of the major parties.

On Saturday evening also, Dahal, Deuba and Oli sat together but they did not touch upon the issue of cooperatives scam.

“We convey our agreement and disagreement at the task force level to the top party leadership,” said Law Minister Giri.

“All those involved in embezzling the deposits will come under the investigation.”