KATHMANDU, March 2: The special court has acquitted the outgoing chairman of Nepal Insurance Authority (NIA), Surya Prasad Silwal, of corruption charges.
A bench of special court members Tej Narayan Singh Rai, Ram Bahadur Thapa, and Murari Babu Shrestha has ruled that the charges against Silwal could not be confirmed.
On December 9, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), had accused Silwal of taking an office he did not deserve and committing corruption by submitting false information.
The special court also acquitted him of the charge that he extended his tenure by altering the date of birth on his citizenship details.
The CIAA had filed the case stating that Silwal received undue benefits by reducing his age by three years. The charge sheet mentions that Silwal’s date of birth in his citizenship certificate is three years less than his actual date of birth. Silwal is alleged to have repeatedly changed his birth date in his citizenship and passport through fraudulent means.
Silwal, whose birth date was originally mentioned as July 30, 1958, changed his date of birth twice, the CIAA’s investigation found. The CIAA said that his date of birth was mentioned as July 30, 1958 in the diploma level transcript issued by Tribhuvan University as well as his seat roll while joining the civil service. However, his diplomatic passport mentions his birth date as November 9, 1961. Surprisingly, his citizenship submitted for appointment as the chairman of the NIA mentions his birth date as November 8, 1959.
Silwal was appointed as the chairman of the NIA on February 2, 2021. Prior to that, he had spent 30 years in civil service. He entered the civil service as a section officer on July 30, 1986, and retired on July 30, 2016. He had also served as the home secretary.