KATHMANDU, Jan. 3: The Special Court today turned down CIAA’s plea to keep former Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka in custody till his corruption case is finalised. The Court decided to release him on bail of Rs. 20 million. After the Court gave its verdict late this evening, ex-minister Khadka hurriedly presented his fixed assets worth the bail money and went home.
The Court also decided today to release joint secretaries Narayan Bahadur Thapa and Amodananda Mishra on bail of Rs. 8 million each. Amodananda Mishra presented documents worth the bail amount and got himself released from custody while accused Narayan Bahadur Thapa could not present the bail money and was sent to the Dillibazar Sadar Khor this evening.
Khadka and Mishra have been asked to present themselves before the court on Monday. Officials at the CIAA were stunned by the Court decision. The Court’s decision to release ministers, especially former minister for Information and Communications Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta for only Rs. 100,000 has torched frustration among the CIAA officials who are working on a war-footing to root out corruption from the country.
The constitutional anti-corruption body had filed a charge sheet against Gupta on December 23, demanding a maximum sentence of five years and a fine of Rs. 25 million. However, the Court had released Gupta early this week on bail of Rs. 100,000. With the release of ex-minister Khadka, all three powerful ex-ministers in the Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government – Chiranjibi Wagle, Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta and Khum Bahadur Khadka – accused on various charges have been released on bail by the Court.
“By releasing ex-minister Gupta on such a paltry sum, while being accused of having involved in corruption amounting to more than Rs. 40 million, the Court has disheartened hundreds of thousands of Nepalese who want the corrupt brought to book,” an official of the CIAA told The Rising Nepal. The Commission for Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had filed a charge sheet against former minister Khadka in the Special Court on December 24, accusing him of engaging in corruption while awarding the contract of the Bakraha River Control Project. CIAA prosecutors, co-Attorney General Prem Raj Karki and Yubraj Subedi had pleaded in the Court not to release Khadka on bail until his case was finalised.
The CIAA had also roped in then Deputy Director-General of the Irrigation Department Mishra and then Chief of the Bakraha River Control Project Thapa in the Court on that day. The CIAA, under preamble 2 of the Anti-Corruption Act 2059 and Article 14 (1) of the Constitution of the Kingdom, had demanded a fine of Rs. 40.5 million from both the government employees and maximum sentence.
Former Minister of Water Resources Khadka had been in judicial custody since October 30 last year for abusing his authority while awarding the contract without calling a tender as demanded by law. The commission has also filed a charge sheet against the then secretary at the Ministry of Water Resources Bishwonath Sapkota and the Chinese Construction Company that bagged the contract. Sapkota is currently in the USA and only recently resigned from his post as chairman of the Teachers Service Commission after the CIAA indicted him in the case with Khadka.