Finance Minister Wagle denies tax evasion allegations, clarifies Finance Bill corrections

Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle clarified that only technical errors in the Finance Bill were corrected following the budget speech. Speaking at the Finance Committee meeting on Wednesday, he urged discussions to be based solely on facts and evidence. He claimed that MPs were pre-informed about the 5-6 corrected issues along with the bill.

Highlighting that the presented budget favors the general public, Minister Wagle accused an organized group of attempting to defame the Prime Minister and himself. Addressing recent questions about vehicle imports and taxes, he clarified that the vehicles were imported through regular procedures. He mentioned that there was misleading information circulating in the market, alleging tax evasion linked to BYD vehicles.

Minister Wagle questioned MPs on why the corrections to the Finance Bill, which had already been explained to them, were being interpreted as ‘treason’ or ‘betrayal’. He firmly stated that neither he nor his team had leaked any information regarding the budget or taxes.

Expressing frustration over news reports on the Finance Bill and tax rates, Minister Wagle accused the media of spreading unnecessary confusion. “I don’t know if Nepali journalists can use Microsoft Word. A 460-page document has columns, and when you remove the columns, the pages decrease,” he remarked sarcastically, explaining the technicalities.

He accused newspapers of creating a fuss as if something significant had happened, even after MPs were officially informed. Despite the confusion created by journalists and newspapers, he asserted that there was no difference between the bill distributed to MPs and the one made public.