The government has said that it will not take action against anyone until the final conclusion of the corruption scandal regarding the procurement of two wide-body aircraft is reached.

At a press conference organised to inform about the Cabinet decisions on Thursday, government spokesperson and Minister for Communications and Information Gokul Prasad Banskota said the report prepared by the sub-committee was not the ultimate truth.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Parliament is yet to study and discuss the report presented by the sub-committee, he said. The sub-committee was formed by the PAC to prepare the report regarding the procurement of two Airbus A-330 jets.

Though the report presented by the sub-committee was true, it was not good to organise a press conference to make public the report instead of submitting it to the PAC.

“The government can form a probe committee if it deems necessary to investigate the incident,” he said, adding, “But questions could be raised over its impartiality.”  

Saying that there are other constitutional agencies as well for the investigation, he said action will be taken if the accused are proven guilty from all sides.

“There are agencies to investigate whether the accused was involved in the embezzlement while procuring the aircraft or not. They will be punished if all sides prove them guilty,” he said.

“All the details of the investigation process can’t be true. It should not be taken as final verdict. The government believes that the investigation should reach its conclusion,” he added.

The inquiry report of the committee has alleged that Civil Aviation Minister Rabindra Adhikari, Civil Aviation Secretary Krishna Prasad Devkota, Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office Sishir Prasad Dhungana, and Managing Director of Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) Sugat Ratna Kansakar, among other officials, were involved in misappropriating at least Rs 4.35 billion while procuring the two wide-body aircraft.

The parliamentary inquiry has held 34 incumbent and erstwhile government officials responsible in one of the largest corruption incidents in the country’s history. Among them are former aviation ministers Jeevan Bahadur Shahi and Jitendra Dev, who had served in the governments led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Sher Bahadur Deuba respectively, and former aviation secretaries Shankar Prasad Adhikari, Prem Kumar Rai and Maheshwor Neupane.