KATHMANDU, June 9: Sudhan Gurung has been reappointed as Home Minister. According to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, he is scheduled to take the oath of office and secrecy at 3:00 pm today at the President’s Office, Shital Niwas.
Gurung had come under scrutiny after reports surfaced about his business partnership with businessman Deepak Bhatt. Questions were raised over his purchase of shares in Liberty Micro Insurance and Star Micro Insurance, companies linked to Bhatt, who is currently in the custody of the Department of Money Laundering Investigation.
As concerns mounted over the source of the investment, Gurung maintained that he had borrowed money to purchase shares worth around Rs 5 million. Following widespread criticism, he resigned as Home Minister on April 22, just 26 days after assuming the post.
To investigate the matter, a Cabinet meeting on May 11 formed a three-member committee headed by former High Court judge Achyut Prasad Bhandari.
The panel also included Financial Comptroller General Shobhakanta Poudel and Deputy Attorney General Achyut Mani Neupane. The committee was tasked with examining the allegations against Gurung and submitting a report within 15 days. The deadline was later extended by five days.
After completing its investigation, the committee cleared Gurung of wrongdoing. It concluded that allegations against him could not be substantiated after reviewing his shares and property holdings.
The committee’s 45-page report declared all of Gurung’s movable and immovable assets to be legally acquired. It also attributed discrepancies found in asset disclosures to weaknesses in the state’s record-keeping and reporting system rather than to any misconduct by Gurung.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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