Corruption case filed against nine including sitting secretary

BY A STAFF REPORTER,Kathmandu, Oct. 3: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a case against nine individuals including Madhu Kumar Marasini, sitting Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies and the then division chief of Budget and Programme Division of the Ministry of Finance, on charge of corruption during the purchase of the National Payment Gateway (NPG) at the Special Court on Monday.

The CIAA filed the case also against Sanjay Sharma, secretary at the then Ministry of Science and Technology and the then chairman of National Information Technology Centre (NITC), Pranita Upadhyaya, then director of the NITC, Sunil Paudel, sitting managing director at the Nepal Telecom, and then deputy-director/executive director of NITC and Safal Shrestha, sitting deputy-director and former director of NITC.

Similarly, the CIAA also presented Ramesh Pokhrel aka Ramesh Prasad Pokhrel, then assistant-director of NITC, Neem Bahadur Oli and Ram Bahadur Budha, then account officers of NITC and Ram Sharan Gayak, computer engineer at the NICT, as the defendants. 

According to the CIAA, Marasini had allocated a budget of Rs. 250 million six years ago for the purchase of the NPG without preparing a feasible infrastructure and with an extensive amount of money in collusion with other defendants. He had purchased the NPG which was not included in the budget and programmes of the ministry without informing senior officials.

The CIAA has claimed the NPG was purchased at Rs. 232,758,077 without consulting banks, financial institutions and stakeholders causing a loss and damage to the Nepal government. Though the budget was allocated six years ago, the NPG has not come into operation to date. 

The CIAA has demanded a fine of Rs. 8,977,397 for Neem Bahadur Oli and Rs. 1,799,700 for Safal Shrestha and punishment in accordance with Clause 17 (3) of the Prevention of the Corruption Act-2002.

Similarly, the CIAA has claimed to collect the loss amount of Rs. 232,758,077 from the rest of the defendants and punish in accordance with Clause 3 (1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act-2002. Additionally, the CIAA has demanded additional punishment in accordance with Clause 24 of the same act for Sanjay Sharma, Pranita Upadhyaya and Sunil Paudel. 

Earlier on Sunday, the CIAA had filed a case in the Special Court against two individuals including the then member-secretary of the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) Dr. Pradip Dhakal and PADT then treasurer and current member-secretary Dr. Milan Kumar Thapa on Sunday.    

According to the CIAA, the defendants had corrupted during the placement of golden Jalhari in the sanctum sanctorum of Pashupatinath Temple. During the placement of the Jalhari, the CIAA found that Dhakal and Thapa had embezzled 1491.718 gm of gold. 

The PADT had done an agreement with Nepal Bank on February 8, 2021 for the purchase of the gold. It had purchased gold at the rate of Rs. 7844.50 per gram on February 11, 2021.  

The CIAA has demanded the defendants to be fined the cost of the embezzled gold as per the rate of the purchased date which amounts Rs. 1,1701,781 and punished in accordance with the Clause 3 (1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act-2002.