KATHMANDU, JUNE 30

The Special Court convicted former executive director of Nepal Oil Corporation Gopal Bahadur Khadka of corruption.

A bench of the Special Court Chair Shree Kanta Paudel and Judges Sharligram Koirala and Khushi Prasad Tharu imposed one year and three months jail sentence and Rs 90.19 million fine on Khadka.

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority had on 7 January 2019 filed a corruption case against Khadka at the Special Court accusing him of amassing disproportionate assets worth more than Rs 180 million.

According to Spokesperson for Special Court Dipendranath Yogi, the court also decided to confiscate Khadka's house, land, and shares as claimed by the CIAA. The court also decided to confiscate three land plots registered in the name of Sharmila (his wife) and Amita Lama Sodemba.

The CIAA had stated that Khadka's valid income was Rs 86,469,751 but his expenditure and investment was worth Rs 273,075,380.

The CIAA had stated that during the investigation period, Khadka bought three houses. He also has an ancestral house. He made partial payments for two other houses and also bought 11 plots in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur and Kavreplanchowk districts. Khadka kept property worth more than 70 million rupees in the name of Amita Lama Sodemba, a resident of Ward No 4 of Budhanilkantha Municipality.

The CIAA also demanded confiscation of his disproportionate assets kept in the name of Amita Lama Sodemba and his wife. The CIAA stated that it named the two women as defendants only for the purpose of confiscating the property kept by Khadka in their names.

The CIAA had stated that Khadka purchased a house in the name of Amita Lama Sodemba at CG Hills in Hatigauda, Kathmandu, for Rs 32,500,000 and eight ana land in her name at Budhanilkantha, Kathmandu, for Rs 4,011,875. He also purchased a vehicle in her name.

Khadka had also made a payment of Rs 30,500,000 to buy another house in the name of Amita Lama Sodemba at old Mahankal VDC's Ward No 4. The CIAA added that Khadka used to operate bank accounts held by Sodemba at NMB and Citizens Bank.

The CIAA stated that it had confiscated a good-for-payment cheque of Rs 8,989,000 issued by Khadka to buy a house built at Budhanilkantha by Roadshow Real Estate Pvt Ltd.

Since his appointment to the top NOC post in January 2015, Khadka had been involved in several controversies.

He was accused of awarding petroleum supply licence to a controversial private company - Birat Petroleum - while the country was witnessing acute fuel shortage following the border blockade in 2015-16. He was also accused of arbitrarily distributing licences to open fuel stations across the country.

The government sacked Khadka from the post of NOC ED on September 18 after he was accused of irregularities.

Under the supervision of Khadka, NOC was found to have purchased plots of land at a much higher cost than the prevalent market rates in Jhapa, Sarlahi, Chitwan and Rupandehi districts. In fact, NOC paid up to four times more for plots in these areas compared to the government valuation of the said plots.

A version of this article appears in the print on July 01, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.