Asia Broadcasting Corporation (Private) Limited has publicly corrected figures it aired earlier this week on Agriculture Minister K.D. Lal Kantha’s 2025 assets declaration, admitting a calculation error after the minister issued a Rs. 10 billion damages notice.
In a correction issued Saturday, the broadcaster said an earlier report had incorrectly stated the minister’s securities were worth Rs. 38.39 crore and total gross assets exceeded Rs. 46 crore. The actual declared securities value was approximately Rs. 143,475, and total gross assets around Rs. 8 crore — an overstatement of more than five times.
The broadcaster said the correction followed a legal notice from the minister’s lawyer and was being issued under “the media’s right to rectify errors.” It expressed regret for the inconvenience caused.
Lal Kantha’s Rs. 10 billion damages notice, served Saturday, had targeted the April 16 broadcast and warned of legal action if the demand was not met. The notice also referenced shares held in his daughter’s name, which the minister said were worth around Rs. 143,000 rather than the hundreds of millions reported on air.
The retraction arrived within hours of the notice — an unusually fast climbdown by a major private broadcaster against a sitting cabinet minister. It reverses the momentum of a story that had generated sharp political debate over asset declarations filed with the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC).
A separate complaint filed with CIABOC by the Movement for Corruption-Free Public Activism over Lal Kantha’s declaration remains before the commission.
