KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 6
The Special Court has acquitted the then Minister of culture Tourism and Civil Aviation Jeevan Bahadur Shahi and the former board director of Nepal Airlines Corporation Nima Nuru Sherpa in a wide-body aircraft purchase scam.
Delivering a verdict last night, a bench of Chairman of Special Court Tek Narayan Kunwar and Members Tej Narayan Singh Rai and Ritendra Thapa announced that 27 defendants including the then Minister of culture Tourism and Civil Aviation Jeevan Bahadur Shahi and current president of Nepal Mountaineering Association Nima Nuru Sherpa were acquitted in the case.
On April 4, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a case against 32 individuals, including former minister for tourism, culture and civil aviation Jeevan Bahadur Shahi and Sugat Ratna Kansakar, the then managing director of Nepal Airline Corporation (NAC), for their alleged corruption in the procurement of two Airbus A30-200 back in July 2018.
In its verdict, the Special Court convicted the then NAC general manager Sugat Ratna Kansakar, Tourism Secretary and the then NAC board chairman Shankar Prasad Adhikari, the then director general of the Department of Customs Shishir Dhungana, and Joint Secretary Buddhi Sagar Lamichhane on charge of corruption in the procurement of aircraft for the national flag carrier.
Along with a jail-term, the court has imposed a fine of Rs 122.59 million on all the defendants and an equal amount of penalty from the convicted officials. The anti-graft body had also sued aircraft suppliers company's representatives, citizens from Germany, Romania and Moldova.
