KATHMANDU, JAN 13 - Believe it or not, Nepali Congress leader and former minister Govind Raj Joshi and his wife are now "poor" with no land and house of their own. Nor have they a single paisa to their names in their bank accounts.
An investigation report prepared by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has revealed that the Joshis own no property now since "they have already transferred whatever they had to their relatives to cheat the CIAA investigations."
According to the chargesheet against Joshi, which was filed today in the Special Court, it took two years for him to transfer his property and cash to his close relatives, namely, his mother-in-law, brother-in-law, and two other kith and kin.
In fact, he started concealing his property as soon as the Judicial Probe Commission on Property launched its inquiry into his holdings in 2001.
In its chargesheet, the CIAA has accused Joshi of amassing about Rs 40 million illegally. The constitutional anti-graft watchdog has recommended confiscation of Joshi’s ill-gotten wealth, fine matching to the amount, and 13 years of imprisonment for his corruptive practices.
According to the affidavit, Joshi earned only about Rs 4.6 million when he held different ministerial portfolios since 1992. He became education, home and local development minister at different times since the restoration of democracy 14 years ago.
The document ~ ~ adds that his mother-in-law Nir Kumari Pant, brother-in-law Bashudev Pant, Bashudev’s father-in law Tararaj Pandey, son Dinesh Raj Joshi and Ram Krishna Tiwari, another close relative, fabricated a plan to have Joshi’s holdings disappeared.
These relatives also have been made defendants in the case against Joshi. The CIAA chargesheet has stated that they also must be punished along with Joshi. But the CIAA has waived off penalisation to Tararaj Pandey for disclosing the truth to its investigation team.
Meanwhile, Joshi has termed the CIAA chargesheet against him as "biased and false".
"The chargesheet is based on prejudices and not on facts, and is an imagined one," Joshi told journalists while reacting to the filing of the case with the Special Court.Posted on: 2004-01-14 04:28

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