Nepal

11 booked for graft

By HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

Photo: THT/File

KATHMANDU, JUNE 22

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority today filed a charge sheet at the Special Court against 11 persons, including former vice-chairperson and chief administrative officer of Molung Rural Municipality, Okhaldhunga, for their alleged involvement in corruption on the pretext of carrying out development activities.

Those sued by the anti-graft body are former rural municipality vice-chair Hem Kumari Tamang, former CAO Santosh Shrestha, engineer Madhav Niraula, assistant sub-engineer Shiva Prasad Adhikari, chair of ward No 2 Tanka Bahadur Karki, and office-bearers of road construction user committee Dipendra Rai, Bhajtarak Rai and Nanmaya Rai.

According to a press release issued by the CIAA, they had colluded to embezzle Rs 382,050 in the course of constructing a road from Kaphalbot to Holpu Mission Hospital in ward No 2 of the rural municipality through the user committee during the fiscal 2018-19.

The CIAA had launched a wide-ranging investigation into the case after it received a corruption complaint.

During the probe, it was found that they had created a fake file to show the road construction without carrying out any work.

On the basis of the fake file, the project amount was paid to the user committee to share cash among them later.

Similarly, the office-bearers of the user committee had received the payment for 'construction of road' as per the fake file presented by the rural municipality officers.

A version of this article appears in the print on June 23, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.