SC convicts ex-customs chief of corruption

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

KATHMANDU: Settling a ten year old corruption case, the Supreme Court today convicted former chief customs officer of Mechi Customs Office Keshar Jung Khadka for illegally accumulating disproportionate assets.

A division bench of Justices Kalyan Shrestha and Bharat Bahadur Karki issued the verdict slapping a nine-month jail sentence and a fine of Rs 3.2 million and confiscation of Rs 3.2 million that was disproportionate to his sources of income.

Partially overturning the Special Court verdict which had slapped one-year jail sentence on him in 2004, the apex court reduced the sentence by three months.

Khadka is one among 22 customs officials who were arrested and investigated by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) ten years ago in its anti-graft drive immediately after the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority Act was amended in 2002.

According to the verdict, as he has already spent four months in jail in the process of investigation in 2002, the apex court said that he needed to bear the remaining five months sentence for amassing disproportionate assets while abusing power as government staff.

The apex court also directed the anti-graft constitutional body to investigate any graft case by first of all properly analysing the facts gathered during the course of investigation.

It also directed the CIAA to make the investigation transparent without twisting the facts with ill indentation.

Though Khadka did not attend the court as ordered, his lawyers said that he would surrender before the court to execute the verdict within a few days.