Kathmandu: The CPN (Maoist Centre) has denied any financial irregularities in the payment of the then members of the Maoist People's Liberation Army (PLA) and other managerial works in the cantonments.

The party said that the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) had already cleared the matter and there were no irregularities in the budget meant for the supervision and management of ex-Maoist armies.

The party's Vice Chair and Spokesperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara said that a letter about the budget allocations to the cantonments and its expenditures was sent on June 1, 2012 to the Office of Cantonment Management Central Coordinator in Singha Durbar.

The annual report of the OAG-2069 BS (page number 259) has mentioned about the audit of the cantonment expenditures, it is said.

The government on April 26, 2012 took a decision to convert around Rs 460 million allocated in advance for the supervision and management of the then Maoist armies in course of implementing the peace process to grants. The decision was based on the recommendations of the parliamentary Public Account Committee and the then Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction.

Stating that the payments of salaries were made to the beneficiaries by issuing receipts, then the deputy commander of the Maoist Liberation Army and the CPN (Maoist Centre) Chakrapani Khanal accused the attempts of picking up an issue unnecessarily as 'the matter has been already concluded legally and practically'.

There were not any financial irregularities in the cantonments and it could not be, he claimed.

The party has also asked the government to take a stern action against those involved in the fake Bhutanese refugee scam and to effectively implement the government policies and programmes.