Parliamentary Committee Demands High-Level Probe into Customs Irregularities

Kathmandu. Lawmakers have demanded a high-level investigation into the manipulation of tax rates in the budget and serious irregularities at customs. Lawmakers made such demands during a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee under the House of Representatives on Thursday. 

Lawmakers Khusbu Oli of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), Aryan Rai of the Shram Sanskriti Party, and Mahendra Shahi of the Nepali Communist Party have proposed forming a parliamentary subcommittee to conduct a thorough investigation into this matter. 

In the meeting, lawmaker Khusbu Oli presented data from the fiscal year 2080 BS, stating that billions in revenue are being evaded by altering the seat capacity of vehicles at customs offices. According to her, vehicles with 7-8 seats have been registered as having 11 seats, resulting in only 10% customs duty being paid instead of the applicable 30%, thereby defrauding the state. 

"More than 774 such vehicles have already been imported. Billions have been lost to the state due to the manipulation of seat capacity in collusion between customs and the Department of Transport Management," Oli said. Expressing distrust in the ministry's internal investigation, she demanded that the Public Accounts Committee form its own subcommittee to bring the truth to light within six months. 

Similarly, lawmaker Aryan Rai also stated that a high-level investigation committee should be formed. "Our country has reached a point where even if you want to honestly pay taxes, you have to bribe middlemen and employees," Rai expressed his anger. He strongly supported lawmaker Oli's proposal to form an investigative subcommittee to stop revenue leakage and ensure good governance. 

Likewise, lawmaker Shahi also demanded that the committee form a separate subcommittee. He stated that such issues have been raised in the past and urged the committee to investigate by forming a subcommittee. Similarly, CPN-UML lawmaker Yagya Bahadur Bogati also said that the Public Accounts Committee should form a separate subcommittee for investigation. He stated that the committee formed by the Ministry of Finance was not complete. 

Ganesh Thagunna also demanded that the parliamentary committee form a subcommittee for investigation.