Kathmandu, Jan. 10 -- Members of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee have raised serious questions regarding the functioning of the House panel that is mandated to look into governmental financial irregularities. Some members allege that there are vested interests at play in the committee.

Committee members began to raise questions after Bijaya Mishra, an alleged "expert" in the field of information technology and communications, filed a complaint with the committee last week arguing that Nepal did not need a security printing press and that the cost of setting up one in the country was too high. Members sensed something was afoot when Mishra, who is the representative of a Swiss firm vying for the same security printing contract...