KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 27

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority has filed an appeal at the Supreme Court against decisions of the Special Court in connection with two bribery cases.

The Special Court had given clean chits to the defendants of these two cases. In one case, the anti-graft body had arrested Ramesh Dhakal, a tax officer of Internal Revenue Office, Janakpurdham, with Rs 150,000 in bribe he received from a service-seeker in March 2021.

According to the CIAA, Dhakal had received the bribe through Navin Kumar Karna, an intermediary.

Following rigorous investigation, the anti-graft body sued Dhakal at the Special Court, which, however, declared him innocent, citing that the alleged bribe money was provided to the service-seeker by the CIAA itself from the state fund. 'There is no solid evidence to substantiate that Dhakal had received the bribe. In fact, the cash worth Rs 150,000 was provided to the service-seeker to hand it to Dhakal as bribe,' the verdict of the Special Court reads. However, the CIAA said it was not satisfied with the decision of the Special Court and there were evidences, including audio-visual records of the bribe.

In yet another case, the CIAA had filed a chargesheet at the Special Court against two persons for their alleged involvement in corruption.

Those indicted for corruption are CAO Krishna Prasad Jaisi and sub-engineer Kishor Kumar Moktan of Godawari Municipality. In August 2020, Jaisi and Moktan were held with a bribe of Rs 150,000 that they had received from a service-seeker for bill clearance of an under-construction road project.

In response to the chargesheet filed against Jaisi and Moktan, the Special Court issued a verdict saying the act of offering bribe money was a ploy to trap them. 'The alleged bribe money was provided to Jaisi and Moktan following bill clearance of the under-construction road project. An employee cannot seek bribe after the work is done. Hence, it is a bias against them,' the verdict of the Special Court says.

Issuing a press release, the CIAA claimed that sufficient evidences were produced to prove them guilty. The apex court will now hear the appeal filed by the CIAA against the Special Court's decisions.

A version of this article appears in the print on November 28, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.