Breaking his long silence, embattled Chief Justice (CJ) Dilip Kumar Poudel claimed today that he “hasn’t violated any professional ethics”.

Talking to the media at the Tribhuvan International Aiport (TIA) before boarding a flight to China at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Sunday, CJ Poudel completely denied that he privately met the defendants of corruption cases at his official residence.

Poudel even tried to defend himself saying that “such allegation are leveled to weaken the country’s judicial system”.

After reports of the his meeting with three corruption-accused persons– former minister Khum Bahadur Khadka, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Nepal) chairman Rabindra Nath Sharma and former police DIG Kumar Koirala came in the media, CJ Poudel had come under fire for breaking international norms and code of conduct which forbids judges from meeting defendants of a case under review at the court.

Saying that his long silence on the matter may have been adjudged otherwise, Poudel said that since he is the chief of the country’s judiciary he regularly meets “all sorts of people in various public programmes” and reiterated that “no such meetings took place at his Baluwatar residence”.

But, when journalists mentioned that the RPP chairman Sharma himself admitted of personally meeting him at his residence when a corruption case against him was still pending at the Special Court, CJ left the press conference halfway and made off to the VIP lounge of the airport.