Kathmandu, May 25

The Nepali Army has dismissed Lieutenant Colonel Kesab Raj Karki after he was found guilty of misappropriating public funds.

NA Spokesperson Bigyan Dev Pandey told THT that the Court Martial of the NA decided to put Karki in jail for three months and recover from him the embezzled amount of Rs 4,929,089.

Karki was until recently deputed at Kali Siddhi Battalion in Udayapur district.

“He was found to have misappropriated funds while he was serving in the engineering unit at Kali Siddhi Battalion,” NA Spokesperson Pandey said, adding that Karki was also found to have violated military rules and regulations.

Karki has not lost his job though, and he is still eligible to hold government posts in the future, according to the decision of the Court Martial meeting yesterday.

The Nepali Army had formed a court of inquiry on May 6 to investigate corruption allegations against Karki.

He was arrested and kept in custody on May 16 for interrogation.

The court of inquiry on May 17 found him guilty of public funds misappropriation and recommended its decision to send Karki to three months in jail and recover from him the embezzled amount to Chief of the Army Staff General Purna Chandra Thapa.

CoAS Thapa, on May 19, approved the court of inquiry’s decision.

Spokesperson Pandey said Karki would be in jail until August 7. However, Karki can still challenge the Court Martial decision in the High Court.