Arya News - Leaders from his own and opposition parties ask him to step down and help the probe into alleged corruption at airport immigration.
KATHMANDU – Amid growing calls across the party lines for Ramesh Lekhak to step down as home minister over a visit visa scam, Lekhak has defended himself, saying he will quit politics if found guilty of the reported anomalies at the Tribhuvan International Airport immigration.On Wednesday, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) apprehended Tirtha Raj Bhattarai, chief of the TIA Immigration Office, and interrogated him over the alleged collusion to facilitate the visits of Nepali nationals abroad at the behest of human traffickers.The CIAA also carried out a raid at his office and confiscated documents and personal belongings like computers, mobile phones and related documents for investigation.Transactions worth millions of rupees were uncovered while sending Nepali nationals in visit visa arrangements to countries in the Persian Gulf and beyond. The anti-graft commission suspects officials from the immigration office, manpower agents and other middlemen to be working in a pre-arranged setting from the immigration office.Bhattarai, who is joint-secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs, has been released on bail but the CIAA is probing him to figure out the immigration officials’ alleged nexus with the human traffickers, allegedly under the watch of home ministry officials. The CIAA has yet to share any information publicly on its ongoing investigation and suspected broader links between Bhattarai and home ministry officials. But some media reports, citing unnamed sources at the CIAA, alleged that officials from Lekhak’s secretariat are also linked in the scam.
The visit visa scam has stirred up mainstream and social media as the roles of home minister Lekhak and his private secretariat come under increasing scrutiny. Cross-party leaders have asked Minister Lekhak to clear his position, with some even asking him to step down.
“I challenge [authorities] to prove my involvement,” Lekhak told the Post. “I’m not a person who gets involved in such activities.”
Referring to a video linked to him that has been circulating on social media, Lekhak on Saturday said he will address the House of Representatives on Tuesday and clarify his position.
“A and conspiratorial campaign is being waged against me. Not just on the visit visa issue at the Tribhuvan International Airport’s immigration, if someone can establish even a single financial irregularity on me, I will resign not just from my position [as home minister] but also from politics,” he told reporters at the home ministry on Saturday evening.
“I have already requested time to speak in the respected House of Representatives on Tuesday,” Lekhak said, pledging to address the matter in more detail there.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs is a huge ministry with hundreds of thousands of employees. At any time, a constitutional body or competent agency can initiate an investigation against any employee. If one employee is being investigated, does that mean all ministers should resign? Is that the standard we want to establish?… Has that happened till now?” Lekhak said in his defence.
“What is happening against me right now is a politically motivated, premeditated, and conspiratorial smear campaign,” the minister added.
Later on Saturday evening, joint-secretary Chhabi Rijal of the home ministry issued a statement expressing serious concern over news reports that linked the ministry’s leadership to an incident at the international airport’s Immigration.
Objecting to reports linking the ministry and Minister Lekhak to the incident, the statement said, “We want to make it clear that there is no involvement of the ministry’s leadership in any illegal or corrupt activities.”
The statement stressed that the home administration continues to be active in maintaining peace, security, public order, and good governance in the country.
“The ministry has adopted the policy of zero tolerance against all forms of irregularities and criminal activities,” reads the statement, citing ongoing policy and institutional reforms to streamline the home administration.
On the activities at the TIA Immigration Office, the ministry said the truth will come to light when the investigation is complete. It assured “full cooperation” with the probe.
The ministry removed at least 14 employees from their responsibilities on Friday. Most of those recalled from the airport immigration office are junior officers.
But some leaders from Lekhak’s own party, Nepali Congress, have also demanded Lekhak’s resignation.
Congress senior leader Shekhar Koirala asked Lekhak to resign. Speaking to journalists at Biratnagar Airport on Saturday, Koirala said it would be right for the home minister to resign on moral grounds after the issue of corruption under the Department of Immigration came to light.
“Some ministers in the past have resigned to facilitate such investigations. If minister Lekhak resigns, it props up his own moral stature. ‘I resigned,’ he should say. ‘Go ahead and form an investigation committee. I’m okay with it’,” Koirala further said.
The key governing partner, CPN-UML, has not made public its position on Lekhak. The main opposition CPN (Maoist Centre) has not spoken on the matter either.
The Rastriya Swatantra Party, another opposition party, demanded the resignation of the home minister on Saturday.
Issuing a statement, the party expressed its concern over reports of involvement of the home minister and his secretariat in a human trafficking case under the guise of “visit visa”. It urged the home minister to resign immediately.
Lekhak, who is a member of the House of Representatives, had in the past said in Parliament that “one should resign [as a minister] and help in an investigation when questions are raised”.
The RSP stated that Lekhak’s own words seem to be addressed to himself today. “We demand that he promptly resign from the post of home minister to facilitate an impartial investigation into the matter,” the fourth largest party in Parliament demanded.
“Additionally, the government is advised to ensure that any disruption of Parliament over this issue… does not become a reason for public disillusionment or hatred of Nepali politics.”
Earlier on Saturday, Lekhak told party workers in Janakpur that people had been posting “all sorts of things on social media but I stayed silent for two or three days as I was trying to understand where and why this was happening”.
“I have come to know a lot of things. In a few days, I will also personally speak on the matter. That’s why I’m not saying much right now.” Lekhak also claimed that there is no need for the party to worry.
“I have spent my entire life in politics and have never done anything to bring shame to the party or myself,” he said. “All the issues raised will be properly investigated.”