Nepal government launches historic probe into assets of former leaders and officials World News

Nepal’s new Balendra Shah government has taken the unprecedented step of setting up a five-member judicial panel to investigate the assets of people who held public office between 2006 and the current fiscal year 2025-26, launching the broadest review yet of the country’s post-monarchy political and bureaucratic elite.The move will bring former King Gyanendra Shah, the three presidents, all heads of government since 2005-06 (including two interim arrangements) and a wider range of ministers, constitutional officials and senior bureaucrats under its lens.Those expected to come under its spotlight include former presidents Ram Baran Yadav and Bidya Devi Bhandari, as well as current president Ram Chandra Paudel Paudel); former prime ministers Girija Prasad Koirala, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Madhav Kumar Nepal, Jala Nath Khanal, Baburam Bhattarai, KP Sharma Oli and Sher Bahadur Deuba; and the two interim heads of government – Kiraji Regmi and Sushila Karki.

The expanding framework has also drawn attention to figures associated with Shah’s own political ecosystem, which is expected to include current Speaker Dol Prasad Aryal, ministers Birajbhakt Shrestha and Shishir Khanal, as well as members of the Rastriya Swatantra party who held public office in the earlier era Party chairman Rabbi Lamichhane. The investigation is also expected to expand into the late leader’s assets, putting the families and political heirs of figures such as Girija Prasad Koirala and Sushil Koirala under scrutiny.The five-member committee, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Rajendra Kumar Bhandari, comes weeks after Shah’s Rastriya Swatantra party won the March 5 elections amid youth-led anti-corruption protests last year.Cabinet spokesman Sasmit Pokhrel said the panel would investigate the assets of political officials and senior officials based on the law and evidence. “An impartial investigation will be conducted in accordance with legal standards and based on evidence… Its reports and recommendations will be implemented by relevant government agencies. “Under Shah’s 100-point governance reform plan, the first phase will review those who served from 2006 to this financial year, while the second phase aims to review those between 1991 and 2005.The Nepali Congress, the main opposition party in parliament, said it was appropriate to set up such a committee, but argued that the mechanism should be rooted in permanent law and should not be politicized. “It is clear to us that there must be an inquiry into the assets of those who have held executive positions since 1990. Such a committee should not just be constituted but a legal provision should be made. The inquiry should be fair and evidence-based,” spokesman Devraj Chalise said. Oli’s Nepal Communist Party-UML also supported a review in principle while insisting that the commission must operate on the basis of facts and truth. Rakshya Bam, a 26-year-old Gen Z activist who was at the forefront of the uprising that toppled Oli’s government in September 2025, told TOI: “We welcome the decision and our protests are mainly against corruption at the top of the political system. However, the real test is political will. It is known that the Deuba government set up a property survey team in 2002 and submitted a report in 2003. But its findings were never made public. “