The parliamentary special committee to investigate the misuse of public funds by various cooperatives approved its working procedure, opening the way forward.

A meeting of the committee held at Singha Durbar on Sunday finalised the working procedure after holding discussions with the members of the committee tasked with defining the probe committee’s jurisdiction.

According to committee chair Surya Thapa, the meeting approved its working procedure after consulting with lawmakers Mahesh Bartaula, Hit Raj Pandey, Ramesh Lekhak, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki and Jivan Pariyar, who were involved in defining the committee’s jurisdiction.

“The working procedure of the committee was unanimously passed today after discussions. We discussed the draft procedure and passed it after incorporating various suggestions received,” said Thapa.

The meeting also set its working agenda.

According to Thapa, as per the agenda, the committee will discuss issues related to cooperatives with the Ministry of Cooperatives, the Department of Cooperatives, the Cooperative Board, the Crisis-ridden Cooperatives Management Committee, and other related agencies to obtain information.

The first meeting of the parliamentary panel on June 5 had tasked the officials of the Parliament Secretariat deputed to the committee with drafting the working procedure within two days. However, the procedure was finalised 11 days later.

After weeks of negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties, a seven-member committee led by CPN-UML lawmaker Thapa was constituted on May 28 to investigate the embezzlement of deposits in dozens of cooperatives around the country.

As per the terms of reference, the committee will investigate cooperatives facing crisis, their legal and institutional purposes, financial systems, regulations, supervision, and transparency, and make recommendations to the government.

Another task is to recommend measures for the immediate return of savings to the depositors of the crisis-ridden cooperatives identified by the Department of Cooperatives and the Crisis-ridden Cooperatives Management Committee.