The House of Representatives meeting was obstructed on Tuesday as the ruling and opposition parties remained divided over the formation of a parliamentary panel to probe the fraud charges against Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Rabi Lamichhane.

Last week, the Nepali Congress had demanded the government and ruling parties constitute the probe panel by Tuesday; otherwise, the main opposition said, it would obstruct House proceedings.

A meeting of the Congress parliamentary party earlier on Tuesday had concluded that its demand was being ignored. Concluding that the government was neither serious nor sensitive about the plights of the thousands of victims of cooperative fraud, the party said, “The government would be responsible if the parliamentary proceedings are obstructed because of its indifference [to the party’s demand].”

Following the Congress’s decision, a meeting of the top leaders of the major parties was held at Speaker Devraj Ghimire’s initiative to clear the deadlock but to no avail. Both sides stood firm for and against the formation of the House panel. In the meeting, Lamichanne had rubbished every allegation about his involvement in cooperative fraud. He had reiterated that he was ready to answer the accusations from Parliament.

The Congress, on the other hand, didn’t budge from its position. It demanded the probe panel with the authority to investigate all the cooperative cases, not just the one Lamichhane was allegedly involved in.

With the meeting among the top leadership failing to yield any positive results, Ghimire held another one with the cross-party whips and chief whips to find a meeting point. But that, too, didn’t work.

Then the House meeting, starting after rounds of failed negotiations among the parties, was obstructed by the Congress. Justifying the obstruction, Sushila Thing, the Congress whip, said it was their last resort as the government and ruling parties made light of their concerns.

“Money from six cooperatives, including the Surya Darshan, was invested in the Gorkha Media [wherein Lamichhane was once the shareholder and the managing director of a TV network under its wing]. Can the money from the cooperative be spent in the media?” Thing asked. “Shouldn’t all those involved in the illegal act be booked as per the existing law? Why would Rabi Lamichnane be spared from investigation.”

The Congress has been demanding the formation of the probe panel ever since Lamichhane took charge of the home ministry earlier last month. It, however, has given up the demands of the home minister’s resignation.

The ruling parties have been blaming the main opposition for “blowing the non-issue out of proportion”. The Rastriya Swatantra Party has even demanded an investigation into all the scams that have transpired since 1990. “Let’s have a grand public inquiry of all the issues of mal-governance after 1990,” said Swarnim Wagle, the party’s vice-chair.

The ruling parties have been accusing Congress of adopting a double standard by demanding a probe panel. When the Congress was still in the government, it had stood behind Mohan Bahadur Basnet, then minister for health and population, who was being investigated by the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority for his suspected involvement in corruption in the procurement of the Telecommunication Traffic Monitoring and Fraud Control System (Teramocs) for the Nepal Telecommunication Authority.

The Congress has been claiming that over Rs800 million of 50,000 depositors from various cooperatives has been embezzled.

Victims of cooperatives on February 5 had complained to the District Police Office, Kaski against three people including Lamichhane. A probe committee launched by the Pokhara Metropolitan City found that over Rs1.35 billion in public deposits at the cooperative was embezzled.

Kantipur daily, the Post’s sister publication, ran a series of stories on Lamichhane’s involvement in the alleged misuse of cooperative deposits to buy shares of Gorkha Media Network, a media company.

Lamichhane, a former television host and managing director of the television channel co-founded by Gitendra Babu (GB) Rai, has been accused of embezzling hundreds of millions of rupees in collusion with Rai from different cooperatives in Kaski, Chitwan and Butwal.

Rai, who was the chairman of the Gorkha Media Network, the mother company of the channel, is accused of illegally transferring Rs300 million from Kaski-based Surya Darshan Cooperative, Rs110.71 million from Chitwan-based Sahara Cooperative, and Rs 100.74 million from Supreme Cooperative in Butwal, without providing any collateral.

The next House meeting has been called for Wednesday.