Nepali Times

Amidst the hoo-hah this week about the raid by the Department of Revenue Investigation on law firms, chartered accountants, and other businesses, one issue that was further eclipsed was corruption and plunder that the Maoist party has engaged in after the conflict ended.



It has been more than a year since Amik Sherchan was appointed to head an internal probe team to assess the level of corruption within the party. The committee report has been ready for a while now, but it has never been made public. Now, with elections around the corner, it is very likely that Pushpa Kamal Dahal will use the report to single out a few sacrificial lambs over Dasain.

That report was supposed to have been presented to the Hetauda Congress earlier this year, but although the issue of internal corruption within the party did come up, the report seems to have been put into deep freeze. After this, the voice to reveal the report’s contents and name names became older and more strident.

In response, the wily Dahal said that it was not necessary to make the report public since no cases of serious embezzlement were raised anyway. No senior leader could counter the Chairman’s edict, although there was some grumbling in the ranks. Goes to show just how strong the cult of personality is within the Maoist party, no one dares to point out that the emperor has no clothes.

However, within the party congress there were strong voices against corruption, extravagant lifestyles, and a lack of transparency in financial dealings on the part of the hierarchy. Sherchan brought himself to make the absurd statement that no senior leader was guilty and the laughter and ridicule that greeted this statement in Hetauda was an indication of the internal party mood. If the leaders are all squeaky clean, who are the crooks? It was obvious that the report was a clumsy attempt at whitewash.

Last week in Nepalganj, Dahal used a campaign speech to project his party’s clean image by raking up the Sherchan report and warning that heads would roll, figuratively speaking, within the party. He went on to warn that he would unveil the report and guilty comrades would face punishment. It looks like the Chairman is on a witch-hunt ahead of elections to exorcise his own party and point the finger at arch rivals.

It is well known that Dahal himself, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Hisila Yami, Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, and Barsaman Pun control the party’s coffers and fundraising efforts. Which is why their names top the list of corrupt comrades in the public perception. However, the Sherchan Commission, doesn’t name any of them, nor does it have the mandate to punish them.

As the election campaign hots up, Dahal will make one last ditch attempt to purge rivals and make scapegoats out of junior leaders. He hopes to kill two birds with one stone: sacrifice leaders who are expendable or threaten his dominance while at the same time send a message to the public that the party doesn’t tolerate corruption. In the Central Committee there is palpable sense of terror among comrades about where the axe might fall.

The biggest scandal so far is the scam in the cantonments where as much as Rs 4 billion set aside for ex-guerrillas who didn’t exist vanished into thin air. Dahal is likely to point the finger of blame at PLA commanders who are not completely loyal and maybe thinking of defecting.

There is no doubt that some commanders had itchy fingers, but the rot went right up to the top of the party leadership. Dahal has always been a utilitarian leader and this is a perfect opportunity for him personally to come out smelling like roses.

Muma Ram Khanal was a Central member of the Maoist party during the conflict. He writes this fortnightly column, Inside Out, for Nepali Times.