KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 1

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) today filed corruption case against three former officials of Pashupati Area Development Trust - then member-secretary Pradip Dhakal, treasurer Milan Kumar Thapa and storekeeper Arun Kumar Shrestha - at the Special Court accusing them of embezzling gold worth Rs 11.7 million.

The CIAA said the defendants did not use all the gold that was procured to make the gold jalahari at the Pashupatinath temple.

The CIAA stated in its press release that a total of 96 kg and 822 grams gold jalahari was made at the temple.

According to the anti-graft body, a public deed made on 23 February 2021, stated that pieces of 10,976 grams gold remained after the jalahari was made, but the deed did not clearly mention which of the remaining pieces of gold weighed how much.

The CIAA said that it found 27 pieces but there was no mention of the weight of those pieces in the document.

Voices alleging corruption in the installation of jalahari were raised after the annual report of the Auditor General's Office stated that 10,976 grams gold (one kg 491 grams and 718 milligram gold) was unaccounted for at the temple.

The CIAA said that if the remaining gold was used to make the ring of the jalahari as claimed by the defendants during the course of investigation, then the document should have provedthe same, but there was no documentary evidence to prove the defendants' claim.

The CIAA said that PADT had procured 103,773.1 grams gold (102,614.0-gram pure gold) from Nepal Rastra Bank. A total of 1.491.718 grams or one kg 491 grams and 718 milligram) gold was unaccounted for.

The CIAA said that 96 kg and 822-gram worth jalahari was made, but PADT employee Basudev Rimal said that Dhakal made him write in the deed that the remaining gold was used for the jalahari ring.

The CIAA said Dhakal and Thapa did not make any deed when they used gold for the jalahari ring. If convicted, the defendants will face jail term and will also have to pay a fine equal to the amount in question 11.7 million rupees. The CIAA said that store keeper Arun Kumar Shrestha who was supposed to safely keep the public property acted recklessly and colluded with other defendants to embezzle the gold.

The CIAA had investigated the case after somebody lodged a complaint with it from 11 February to 23 February 2021. The CIAA said that the PADT had not made any guidelines on the purchase of gold and jalahari.

The government had provided Rs 30 million to the PADT to purchase gold required to make the jalahari. PADT had spent Rs 500 million from its coffers to purchase gold for the jalahari. The CIAA said the PADT, which was supposed to engage experts to make the jalahari involved people who had not obtained licence to execute gold work.

A version of this article appears in the print on October 2, 2023, of The Himalayan Times