CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal told his party headquarters on Monday that the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) “decided to expedite probe into corruption in former Maoist cantonments” at the behest of the CPN-UML.

The CIAA said on Friday that it was probing into the complaints against the misuse of funds in the cantonments where former Maoist fighters were housed.

While briefing the party’s meeting on Monday, a day after his return from India visit, Dahal also said that he had already held talks with CIAA chief Lokman Singh Karki. “Karki has accepted that he committed a mistake and has said that he will not move the investigation forward,” a leader quoted Dahal as saying in the meeting. Two leaders close to Dahal claimed that the issue of misappropriation of cantonment funds was raised in “close consultations between the CIAA chief and top UML leaders”. “Since UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli has been annoyed after his downfall, his faction in the party has been active in demoralising PM Dahal, his party and the government,” Maoist sources said.

The CIAA move to start the probe coincided with a Supreme Court (SC) decision on Friday  to review the appointment of Karki as the CIAA chief. Karki was appointed as the head of the anti-graft constitution body in 2013 by then government led by then chief justice Khil Raj Regmi amid hullabaloo, opposition and criticism.

Karki was appointed CIAA chief following a “political agreement” among top leaders of major political parties, including Dahal.

But the day the SC decided to review Karki’s appointment, the anti-graft body decided to “expedite its investigation”, stoking speculations.

When asked whether Dahal had spoken with Karki, CIAA’s Information and Press Coordination Officer Narayan Adhikary said he was “unaware of any telephonic conversation between PM Dahal and Karki”.

On Dahal’s allegations that the CIAA had started its probe into alleged cantonment corruption in consultation with the UML, the party said the anti-graft body “is an independent constitutional body”.

UML leader Bishnu Rimal, who was the chief political adviser to former prime minister KP Sharma Oli, dismissed the allegations, saying that “constitutional body functions independently and the UML had no role in its recent decisions”.

Anti-graft body ‘set to’ seek details

KATHMANDU: The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has said that it plans to seek additional details from the government offices regarding the alleged corruption in cantonments where former Maoist fighters were housed until their integration into the national force was completed. The anti-graft body said on Friday that it was accelerating investigation into complaints regarding cantonment corruption. In most of the complaints regarding corruption in the cantonments, top Maoist leaders have been charged with graft. (PR)