The government’s decision to bring the Department of Revenue Investigation and the Department of Money Laundering Investigation under the Ministry of Finance, and the National Investigation Department under the Ministry of Home Affairs, has yet to be effectively implemented nearly two weeks after the Cabinet’s approval, owing to a lack of clear directives and supporting legal frameworks.

“We have received information that a decision has been made to return us from the Prime Minister’s Office to the Ministry of Home Affairs,” said a senior official at the National Investigation Department. “However, we have yet to receive any formal letter reflecting this intent. Perhaps the delay in the official correspondence is due to the Dashain holidays following the decision. We expect it to arrive soon,” the official added.

Chief of the National Investigation Department, Krishna Khanal, also confirmed that the department had not yet received the official letter, though he expressed confidence that such correspondence would arrive soon.

Senior officials at the National Investigation Department, which operated under the Prime Minister’s Office for an extended period, raised concerns that the shift to the Ministry of Home Affairs could bring legal complications. They fear that, in the absence of clear legal provisions, the implementation of the decision may be delayed.

However, Chief Khanal has downplayed the likelihood of immediate difficulties, stating that the department can continue functioning under its special governing Act.

“The government has already made the decision, and we believe it will resolve any legal hurdles that may arise,” Khanal said. “We are confident that this uncertainty will be cleared up within a few days.”

The Cabinet on September 25 had decided to move the Department of Revenue Investigation and the Department of Money Laundering Investigation, previously under the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, to the Ministry of Finance, while placing the National Investigation Department under the Ministry of Home Affairs, according to government spokesman and communications minister Jagadish Kharel.

After eight years, the departments have finally been returned to their original ministries.

Following the 2017 elections, KP Sharma Oli, then prime minister who headed the CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre) alliance with a nearly two-thirds majority, had brought these departments under his office as part of a bid to centralise power.

Although discussions were held during the tenure of the government led by Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba in 2021 to return these three bodies to their respective ministries, no initiative was taken at the time.

Meanwhile, the chairperson of the Department of Revenue Investigation, Tirtharaj Chiluwal, said that they are currently engaged in developing O&M (organisation and management).

“It takes time to move from the previous structure to a new one, and we are currently preparing for that,” Chiluwal said, adding, “When we shift from the old structure to the new, we will need additional legal clarification.”

Previously, when the Revenue Investigation Department and the Department of Money Laundering Investigation were brought under the Prime Minister’s Office, questions had been raised about their effectiveness.

As investigations and prosecutions weakened, demands emerged to restore the bodies to their respective ministries. Officials at the Finance Ministry argued that the two departments, which required direct coordination with the ministry, had been functioning more like independent bodies under the Prime Minister’s Office, which hindered their effectiveness.

Officials at the Revenue Investigation Department have said that since their parent ministry has always been the Ministry of Finance, and their work is directly linked with it, returning to the Ministry of Finance is appropriate.

They have demanded that the necessary legal provisions for their work be formulated quickly.

However, finance ministry spokesman Tanka Prasad Pandey claimed that the legal provisions have already been completed. He said that only on Tuesday, Gajendra Kumar Thakur was appointed as director general of the Department of Money Laundering Investigation, and other procedural tasks have also begun.

According to Pandey, with the Revenue Investigation Department and the Department of Money Laundering Investigation now under the finance ministry, they have already begun their work. “Nothing is preventing them from carrying out their duties,” Pandey said.