KATHMANDU, Dec 7: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a corruption case in connection with financial irregularities at Pokhara International Airport, naming five former ministers—Dr Ram Sharan Mahat, late Post Bahadur Bogati, Ram Kumar Shrestha, Bhim Acharya, and Deepak Amatya—as defendants.
The case also includes ten former secretaries among the 55 total defendants, which includes Pradeep Adhikari, the former Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).
The case, seeking damages of approximately Rs 8.36 billion, lists the late Maoist leader and former minister Post Bahadur Bogati as a defendant. Bogati passed away from a heart attack on September 15, 2014.
Five former ministers among 55 charged in Pokhara Airport corru...
Nepali Congress (NC) leader Dr Ram Sharan Mahat, who resigned from his finance minister post after allegations emerged in parliament that he had opened foreign bank accounts to launder money, is also named as a defendant in the case. Investigations later found that the accounts were solely for employment purposes abroad and the allegations were deemed baseless, allowing him to resume his ministerial duties.
Dr Mahat, credited for stabilizing Nepal’s economy and promoting private sector involvement during his multiple terms as finance minister over two decades, is currently retired and suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, which has significantly affected his memory and recognition of contemporaries.
Other former ministers named include Ram Kumar Shrestha, who served after the dissolution of the first Constituent Assembly in 2013, Bhim Acharya, who later became Tourism Minister under the K P Oli-led government and Deepak Amatya, who served as Tourism Minister and a lawmaker during the second Constituent Assembly under former UML chairman Jhal Nath Khanal.
The case, filed for Rs 8.36 billion in damages, names 55 officials including five former ministers, ten former secretaries, the former project chief and suspended CAAN DG Pradeep Adhikari as defendants. The Chinese construction company involved in the project has also been included as a defendant in the case.
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