A subcommittee formed under the Impeachment Recommendation Committee (IRC) of the Parliament has found Lokman Singh Karki guilty in most of the charges levelled against him through the impeachment motion registered in the House.

The subcommittee report, which was submitted to the full committee on Wednesday, has concluded that Karki, former chief of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority, is guilty on four of the seven charges.

The subcommittee investigation has found that Karki breached his jurisdiction and interfered in the MD entrance examination of Kathmandu University, pressured the Nepal Medical Council to increase MBBS medical seats for KIST Medical College, partly owned by his brother, infringed upon the jurisdiction of various government agencies and had hired officials and appointed investigation officers bypassing the legal procedures. 

The subcommittee has already concluded that the House “cannot” impeach Karki as he has already been dismissed from his post. 

A January 8 ruling of the Supreme Court had declared Karki unfit for holding the post of the chief commissioner of the anti-corruption agency, thereby relieving him of his duties.

The subcommittee has also concluded that there is no need to investigate into contempt of court charges for not receiving Supreme Court summons, as the case has already been put to rest by the apex court itself. 

Rewati Raman Bhandari, a member of the subcommittee, said the panel has suggested further investigation into two other charges: phone tapping and intimidation. 

“We found some proof but couldn’t verify these two charges,” he said. 

In the impeachment motion registered by 157 lawmakers from the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre), Karki has also been charged with spying on VVIPs, VIPs and high level government officials and leaders and misusing Nepal Police and National Intelligence Department for spying. 

The subcommittee has in its report, however, suggested that the concerned agencies can book Karki depending on the nature of the cases. 

The Impeachment Recommendation Committee will now hold discussions on the report before tabling it in Parliament. 

The House, however, can reject the report and direct the IRC to recommend impeachment.

Political parties, however, have divided opinion over impeaching Karki. The Maoist Centre and the UML are for impeaching Karki, while the Nepali Congress continues to remain undecided.