Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
Claim
After his dismissal as NEA executive director, Kulman Ghising said that he is not involved in irregularities.
Fact
No, the viral video shows an old interview of Kulman Ghising.
A video showing the sacked executive director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) saying after his dismissal as NEA chief that he was not involved in any kind of corruption or financial irregularities is going viral on TikTok.
On March 24, a Cabinet meeting sacked Ghising from NEA’s top post and replaced him with Hitendra Dev Shakya.
The NEA chief was in a bitter conflict with the government over unpaid dues collection. The opposition parties have decided to demand answers from Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli for removing NEA executive director Kulman Ghising from the post.
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @bppokharel31 posted a video showing an interview of Kulman Ghising in Kantipur Television’s popular show named fireside. In the interview, journalist Rupesh Shrestha is heard asking, “There are accusations that you earned a hefty amount of money through corruption based on your popularity. What do you say about it?” In response, Ghising says, “I am a public figure. Everything I do is transparent. I have to submit my property details every year. I am being watched by every government agency. Everything I have done is under Nepal’s constitution and law. While making decisions as the NEA chief, I have strictly followed the laws and by-laws. I have not made any decision against the law. I am ready to be investigated if there have been any mistakes from my end.”
Text superimposed on the video reads, “Let’s hear what Kulman has to say after he was removed as NEA chief. Kulman says, “he has not been involved in any irregularities and I haven’t thought about running for election.”
The video posted on March 25 has garnered 6753 likes, 84 users have shared it and 36 people have commented until the last count.
The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the veracity of the claim made in the viral video, Newschecker took a key-frame from the viral video and ran a reverse search on it. The search led us to a video, dated March 25, 2025, posted on the YouTube channel of Kantipur Television HD. The video from 0:19-minute onwards exactly matched the viral video.
On checking the video, we noticed ‘Fireside Archive’ on the video title, indicating that the video is not from now but old. We also found that the interview was originally aired on August 19, 2024. Taking a clue from it, we searched the YouTube channel of Kantipur TV and found a video dated August 21, 2024. We found that the video frame from 0:26-minute onwards exactly matched the viral video.
Thus, our findings clearly indicated that the viral video shows an old clip of popular show Fireside aired on Kantipur Television. Kulman Ghising has not defended the accusation of corruption against him after he was sacked as NEA executive director.
Conclusion
No, sacked NEA executive director Kulman Ghising has neither appeared on any exclusive interview after his dismissal nor defended the allegation of corruption against him. The viral video is old.
Result: False
Sources
Kantipur Television HD /YouTube, March 25, 2025
Kantipur Television HD /YouTube, August 19, 2024
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Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
