“I worked under eight finance ministers. No other ministers held duplicity and lack of transparency, as Adhikari did,” said Khanal, talking to BBC Nepali Service on Wednesday.[break]
Khanal also admitted that Adhikari had moved on to prepare budget outside Finance Ministry without consulting him and his colleagues and was even preparing to amend Finance Act with the intention of waiving off fines slapped against fake VAT receipt racketeers.
He (Adhikari) was full of double standard. Unlike other finance ministers, he used to make policies public without any discussion and detailed home work, said Khanal. “I don´t know why did such things; may be for popularity or to serve other motives,” he added.
Khanal also disclosed that Adhikari had ended the tradition of open and transparent discussions finance ministers used to have with staffs at the ministry.
He also defended his decision to resign saying that had he accepted Adhikari´s terms, the country would have suffered huge revenue losses and triggered a harmful trend of pledging exemptions from fines to tax evaders, instead of punishing them.
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