Ex-minister denies role in forming RCCC

Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs of then royal cabinet, Niranjan Thapa has denied his role in formation of dissolved Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC).Filing his statement before the high level commission formed to probe the excessive force used by the RCCC against the democratic leaders, Minister Thapa denied that he had any role in the formation of the dissolved Commission.Reports quoted one of the members of the commission as saying that Thapa claimed that he was working as the chairman of the Nepal Law Reform Commission at the time of the formation of the RCCC and later became Law Minister, adding, "He said he was not involved in the formation of the RCCC.” “I don’t know who designed the RCCC, but I forwarded a proposal at the Cabinet meeting, calling for extension of RCCC’s tenure,” the member quoted Thapa as saying. The member also said that Thapa denied taking action against democratic leaders.According to information gathered by the commission, Thapa had played a key role in designing the RCCC with the intention to implicate democratic leaders in corruption cases. The government formed following the success of the Jana Andolan (People's Movement) II has formed a commission headed by former Appellate Court Judge Madhav Prasad Ojha to probe the excesses committed by RCCC against the democratic leaders.The RCCC detained former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuwa and former Minister Prakash Man Singh and also interrogated leaders and high ranking officials.The commission is scheduled to submit its report to the government in a week.