Nepal’s new leader launches anti-corruption crackdown
Newly-elected Nepalese Prime Minister Balendra Shah has launched an anti-corruption clampdown just days after being sworn in as the Himalayan country’s head of government.
On Monday, Nepal’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said it has begun investigating the assets of four former prime ministers: K.P. Sharma Oli, Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, Sher Bahadur Deuba, and Madhav Kumar Nepal.
Oli, along with former Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak, were arrested in pre-dawn raids on Saturday after a commission recommended that several officials be prosecuted for failing to stop security forces from opening fire on demonstrators during last year’s ‘Gen Z’ protests.
After the violent uprising left 77 dead and more than 2,000 injured, the nation’s parliament was dissolved.
On Sunday, Shan unveiled a 100-point reform plan that focuses on anti-corruption efforts and reforming the bureaucracy.
Kathmandu also said it would rehabilitate and provide job opportunities to people affected by last year’s protests.
Under the 100-day plan, the new government said it would ban politics in universities and reform the school and education system.
The new government has also said it will implement a digital ID project.
In January, Nepal’s former Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali told RT India that external deep state forces were instrumental in instigating the September 2025 violence in Nepal that led to the ouster of the Oli government.
”Those elements who were actively engaged with the deep state, who used the cross-border misinformation and disinformation to instigate the violence, they were active,” he said.
The Grayzone website has cited leaked documents that reveal that the US government’s National Endowment for Democracy (NED) had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars tutoring young Nepalese to stage the protests, in order to neutralize Chinese and Indian influence over Kathmandu.
