Even after 100 days since the formation of the KP Sharma Oli-led coalition government, Cabinet members have yet to disclose their property details.

Although disclosing the ministers’ property details is not mandatory, the practice is an effort to hold public office bearers accountable and encourage transparency.

In Oli’s earlier stints as prime minister, Cabinet members disclosed their property details.

Officials at the Prime Minister’s Office said they have received property statements from the ministers.

However, a PMO official said that this administration, like many previous ones, is hesitating to make the ministers’ property details public.

“Soon after the Cabinet decides to disclose their property details, the ministers face backlash,” the official told the Post on the condition of anonymity. “That might be why, despite receiving the property details, the Cabinet has yet to make it public.”

According to the Nepal Gazette published on July 4, 2018, the prime minister, ministers and state ministers must submit their property details to the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers. Such details should be sent to the National Vigilance Centre within 2 months. It is an old practice to publish such details.

Section 50 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 2002 also states that people in public positions shall submit their property statement within 60 days of assuming public office and at the end of each fiscal year.

“Whoever joins a public office shall, within 60 days from the date of joining the public office, and whoever is engaged in a public office on the date of commencement of this section shall, within 60 days from the date of commencement of this Act, and after that, within 60 days from the date of completion of each fiscal year, submit the updated statement of property in his/her name or the name of his/her family members, along with the sources or evidence thereof, to the body of authority,” reads the Act.

However, subsection 50(4) of the same Act also states that the submitted property details may be confidential.

Since the constitution protects a person’s property, disclosing it depends on personal discretion. Article 28 of the constitution mentions the right to privacy. “The privacy of any person, his or her residence, property, documents, data, correspondence, and matters relating to his or her character shall, except by the law, be inviolable,” reads the Article.

Former Chief Secretary Bimal Koirala recalls that in the past, the property details shared by the ministers were published after the Cabinet meeting decision.

They are legally bound to submit the property details to the Prime Minister’s Office, but those submitted details are not legally bound to be made public. However, the government formed after the 1990 People's Movement set a tradition of making them public.

However, Koirala said this tradition was broken when the government was formed under the chairmanship of former chief justice Khilraj Regmi.

“It is the moral responsibility of the prime minister and ministers to be transparent by informing the public about their assets when coming into and going out of power,” Koirala told the Post. “But the ministers may have shied away from this because questions are raised about their assets.”

Koirala further said that the prime minister and ministers have not recently understood the seriousness of publicising property details. “If such a trend prevails, the country's governance system will weaken,” he said. “If you talk about good governance on paper but are not transparent while sitting in a public position, it will affect the governance itself.”

Krishna Gyawali, a former secretary of the Nepal government, says making property details of ministers should be legally binding because the people in power might hide their assets. Gyawali said that ministers and people in public positions should disclose their property while in power and reveal it even when out of the position.

“If the public gets to know their property when and after they are in power, then only the public knows the differences,” Gyawali told the Post.

“When in power, there is a tendency to add property through irregularities and to prevent this from happening, the property details of the people in public positions must be made public. The record should be up for public scrutiny.”

Prithvi Subba Gurung, the government spokesperson and minister for communication and information, said the details would be published soon.

“We were supposed to submit the details within two months after we assumed office, which we did,” Gurung told the Post. “It will be published sometime soon.”