That the parliamentary probe committee has exonerated Janardan Sharma of tax tweak charges, speculations are rife he could return to lead the Finance Ministry, days after he resigned.

Those from Sharma’s party, the CPN (Maoist Centre), who have long been saying he would return to take up the post have once again raised the voice that he must make a comeback.

The Maoist Centre has yet to take a decision but concerns have been raised by political analysts and experts on economic affairs that Sharma’s return to the Finance Ministry could be disastrous.

“I don’t know how much his return to the Finance Ministry could affect the dynamics in the ruling coalition but what I can tell you is this will be bad for the country’s economic health, which is already in a bad shape,” said Rameshore Khanal, a former finance secretary.

“Decrease in revenue, failure to make payments like salaries and social security allowances, and increasing inflation are major concerns to which the current government is oblivious.”

The parliamentary probe committee, formed on July 6, submitted its report on Friday, absolving Sharma of all charges.

Sharma was accused of inviting two outsiders on the night of May 28 to alter tax rates. He presented the budget in Parliament on May 29.

Many had doubted the probe committee would actually find anything against Sharma the day it was formed, as such House panels in the past have exonerated the accused rather than carrying out genuine investigations.

Of the 11 members in the committee, four were from the main opposition CPN-UML who have written a note of dissent, but by and large the report says there was no evidence to prove Sharma brought in outsiders to change tax rates.

Most of the senior leaders of the Maoist Centre who are on the party’s Standing Committee have said the party has not thought of an alternative to Sharma—no other leader has been proposed as the finance minister yet. According to them, the party was waiting for the parliamentary probe panel to present its report.

“The party has not thought of Sharma’s alternative as finance minister yet,” said Pampha Bhusal, a Standing Committee member who is also the energy minister in the Sher Bahadur Deuba Cabinet. “The party will make a decision to appoint him [Sharma] again soon.”

Another key leader of the Maoist Centre Barshaman Pun, a former finance minister who is eyeing the general secretary post in the party, told reporters on Friday that Sharma will return as finance minister unless he decides not to take up the post.

Sharma’s role as finance minister had always remained questionable. He faced allegations that he was not doing enough to address the country’s economic woes. In April, he even constituted a committee to probe Nepal Rastra Bank Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari, leading to the latter’s suspension. Adhikari, however, resumed office after a Supreme Court observation that there was nothing wrong about him.

Observers had said Sharma should have resigned or the ruling coalition should have sacked him after the court order.

Tax tweaks were the latest controversy Sharma got embroiled in.

Khanal, the former finance secretary, says if Sharma returns to head the Finance Ministry, he will make more attempts to flout the laws because he will have the support of the prime minister and his party.

“People will realise the effect of his return after five-six months once their lives would gradually become difficult,” Khanal told the Post. “If he returns, that will mean the heights of moral degradation.”

Some observers say the point is not what the probe panel said, rather the issue is the public perception of Sharma after the charges he faced.

“I don’t think the parliamentary probe panel’s report has helped change the public’s perception of the alleged incident as members of the opposition party have not agreed with its conclusion,” said Bhojraj Pokharel, former chief election commissioner and good governance campaigner.

“Bringing the same person to head the ministry at a time when people are yet to trust the technical exoneration could be an issue of temporary political victory but that would damage the parties in the long run, politically.”

According to Pokharel, Parliament also failed to give a message that its investigation is fair and impartial as some members of the panel have not agreed to the committee’s conclusion, making the report controversial.

KP Sharma Oli, chair of the UML whose four members in the House committee registered differing views, on Saturday lashed out at the report.

“Why was the footage deleted and why did they say there was no footage? Why was the committee formed with a majority of their [ruling coalition] members? A criminal act was actually committed while making the budget. We tried for a fair probe but they [members of the ruling parties] didn’t allow it,” Oli said, addressing a meeting of the National Youth Association, a sister wing of the party, on Saturday. “If the report was to be prepared on a majority basis it could have been done in Parliament itself. Nepali people should reject this report.”

The 11-strong committee had two members each from the Nepali Congress, and the Maoist Centre, and one each from the CPN (Unified Socialist), the Janata Samajbadi Party and the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party.

The Congress, the Maoist Centre, the Unified Socialist and the Janata Samajbadi are partners in the ruling coalition.

Hari Roka, a political economist considered close to the Maoist Centre, said the question now is whether to accept or reject the report prepared by a parliamentary committee.

“Nobody has questioned if someone indeed sent some people to tweak tax rates… the moot question is whether to accept the report of a committee that was formed by Parliament,” Roka told the Post. “I think not sending Sharma [to the Finance Ministry] after he has been absolved would mean loss of the party’s credibility and his own credibility.”

According to him, there’s nothing to be surprised of if the Maoist party sends Sharma again and he is appointed finance minister.

Achyut Wagle, an econo-political analyst who is also a columnist for the Post, agreed with Roka with a caveat.

“Yes, it won’t be surprising… at least for me, as I had publicly said long ago… that the probe panel won’t do anything except absolving the accused,” Wagle, who is currently in Geneva, told the Post over the phone. “It’s a moral question our politicians have to answer.”