Kathmandu: Nepal’s Home Minister, Sudan Gurung, who was also one of the prominent faces of the Gen-Z movement in last September, announced his resignation from the post on Wednesday following a controversy over his financial dealings.
In recent days, Gurung has been in the spotlight over his alleged business links with controversial businessman Deepak Bhatta, who is in police custody in connection with money laundering charges.
Gurung announced his resignation via a social media post. “In order to ensure an impartial investigation into matters related to me and to avoid any conflict of interest while continuing to hold office, I have resigned from the position of Home Minister, effective from today,” he wrote on Facebook. “For me, ethics is greater than position, and there is no power greater than public trust.”
He is the second Cabinet minister to leave office in less than a month since the new government, led by Prime Minister Balendra Shah, was formed on March 27 following the March 5 elections.
On April 9, Prime Minister Shah had sacked Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Deepak Kumar Sah on the recommendation of his party, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP).
Sah was found to have misused his office to retain his wife, Junu Shrestha, as a member of the Health Insurance Board, a position that had remained largely inactive for a long time.
The current government was formed with a strong mandate to curb persistent corruption in the country.
Along with Prime Minister Balendra Shah and other ministers, Gurung also disclosed his property details on April 12. He was found to be among the richest ministers in the cabinet, with cash deposits, shares in various companies, and, above all, land ownership far exceeding the ceiling allowed by law.
The minister had 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 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 controversial businessman Bhatta, further fueling concerns about his business dealings.
Gurung was elected to the House of Representatives from the Gorkha-1 constituency of western Nepal.
(IANS)
