The main opposition CPN-UML has accused the government of promoting ‘policy corruption’ by taking the capital gains tax (CTG) controversy surrounding Ncell, the largest private telecom operator in the country, to the Cabinet meeting.

In a statement issued after the completion of its Mechi-Mahakali Campaign, the UML slammed the government for trying to avert government procedure by taking the issue directly to the Cabinet. “We demand the government scrap the cabinet decision and recover CGT based on the existing legal provision,” the UML statement reads.  

Though the opposition seems to have taken a strong stand against the government in the CGT issue, Ncell’s shares were transferred to Axiata from TeliaSonera when UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli was at the helm of government. UML leader Bishnu Poudel was serving as the Finance Minister during Oli’s tenure. At that time, UML led government had done little to ensure that the country recovers CGT tax from the biggest buyout deal in Nepal’s history.

UML’s statement comes a day after Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara briefed a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday that the CGT issue was discussed in the Cabinet “at the insistence of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal”.

During the PAC meeting, Mahara told that tax issue was discussed in the Cabinet after the prime minister sought information. According to Mahara, Ncell has written to the Office of the Prime Minister (PMO) attaching copies of decisions made by PAC as well as the parliamentary Finance Committee and Development Committee and sought clarity on the tax issue.

“Based on the application, the prime minister spoke to me during the Cabinet meeting. The matter was only discussed but no decision was taken,” Mahara said.

Meanwhile, the PAC on Thursday decided to summon Prime Minister Dahal over the capital gains tax (CTG) controversy.

Malaysian company Axiata acquired 60.4 percent of Ncell’s shares from TeliaSonera, a telecommunications service provider in the Nordic and Baltic countries, Eurasia and Spain, and another 19.6 percent from SEA Telecom Investments BV, a company owned by Kazakhstan-based Visor in 2015.