A row is brewing at the Ministry for Forest and Soil Conservation. Senior ministry officials say that state minster Shiva Kumar Basnet has unjustly accused them of indulging in corruption, essentially involving financial irregularities in the sale and allotment of timber. The accusations are totally false, unfounded and baseless, says Secretary at the ministry Rabi B Bista. Although Basnet did not mention Bista's name during a recent press conference, he did implicate several high-ranking forestry officials as he read out a fact-finding report. Officials maintain the report is "wrong, wrong and wrong," and akin to character assassination, and have challenged the minister to find them guilty of felling a single tree. Angry officials also accuse the minister of trying to influence the report.