Kathmandu, June 9 (IANS) Sudhan Gurung, who stepped down as Nepal’s Home Minister on April 22 following controversy over his financial dealings, is set to return to the post. He is likely to take the oath of office later on Tuesday after Prime Minister Balendra Shah recommended President Ram Chandra Poudel to appoint Gurung as Home Minister.
The recommendation comes after the Cabinet decided to receive the report submitted by the committee formed to study and investigate matters relating to Gurung.
The report has not yet been formally published. However, several media reports in recent days have suggested that the government-formed committee did not find evidence of any improper financial dealings by Gurung.
For the past one and a half months, Prime Minister Balendra Shah has been handling the Home Ministry portfolio himself.
“We have received the letter of recommendation from the Prime Minister for the appointment of Gurung as New Home Minister,” a senior official of the President’s Office told IANS. “Likewise, Former Minister and Lawmaker Mahabir Pun will also become Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation .”
President Ram Chandra Poudel will administer the oath of office. “The exact time of the sworn-in ceremony has not been determined,” the official of the President’s office said.
Gurung is one of the key leaders of the Gen-Z movement that emerged in September last year.
In April this year, Gurung, then Home Minister, came under scrutiny over his alleged business links with controversial businessman Deepak Bhatta, who is currently in judicial remand in connection with money-laundering charges.
Gurung announced his resignation through a social media post on April 22, stating that he was stepping down to ensure an impartial investigation into the allegations against him and to avoid any conflict of interest while holding office.
He was the second Cabinet minister to leave office in less than a month after the new government, led by Prime Minister Shah, was formed on March 27 following the March 5 elections.
On May 11, a Cabinet meeting formed an investigation committee led by former judge Achyut Prasad Bhandari, which has already submitted its report to the Prime Minister. The report submitted by the probe panel states that no direct connection could be established between Gurung and controversial businessman Deepak Bhatta and that no banking records were found showing financial transactions between them.
During his testimony before the committee, Gurung reportedly said that he had earned income from operating a hotel in Thamel, Kathmandu’s tourist hub, and subsequently invested the proceeds in shares and gold. This explanation formed part of the basis for the committee’s analysis.
When Prime Minister Shah and other ministers, including Gurung, disclosed their property details on April 12, Gurung was found to be among the wealthiest ministers in the Cabinet, with substantial cash deposits, shareholdings in various companies, and extensive land ownership that reportedly exceeded the ceiling permitted by law.
When questioned about his wealth, then Home Minister Gurung defended his accumulation of wealth on social media, writing that being born poor is not an individual’s fault, but dying poor is.
“When you are born poor, that is not your fault; but if you die poor, that is your fault,” Gurung wrote on Instagram. “Earning wealth without corruption before joining the government is not a sin; earning wealth through corruption after joining the government is a sin.”
Subsequently, questions were raised about the sources of the wealth he disclosed. It later emerged that he had invested in a micro-insurance company promoted by Bhatta, further fuelling concerns about his business dealings.
Gurung was elected to the House of Representatives from the Gorkha-1 constituency in western Nepal.
–IANS
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