KATHMANDU, Oct 9: A corruption case has been filed at the Special Court against former Vice Chancellor of Rapti Institute of Health Sciences (RIHS) Dr. Sangita Bhandari and 12 others on charges of financial irregularities in the procurement of an MRI machine.
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) lodged the case seeking fines and prison sentences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2005.
Dr. Bhandari, who currently serves as a faculty member at BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, is accused of leading a procurement scam that caused a loss of over Rs 120.76 million to the state. She is also the sister of senior Nepali Congress leader Sharat Singh Bhandari.
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The anti-graft body has demanded a fine equivalent to the misappropriated amount, along with imprisonment as per Section 8(1) of the Act. Additional penalties have been sought under Section 24.
The other individuals charged include then acting registrar Jhankar Lamichhane, former finance manager Kailash Prasad Dev, biomedical engineer Sharad Bhandari, biomedical engineer at Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj Amit Kumar Chaudhary, deputy finance manager Nitin Kurmi, branch officers Chhaya D.C and Shriram Chaudhary, IT officer Hiralal Bhandari, then civil engineer Madan Bhandari, then senior assistant Anju Sharma, and acting chairman of Lumbini Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. Postraj Gyawali.
All 13 have been accused of misusing public funds, and the CIAA has demanded recovery of the full amount spent, along with fines and prison terms.
In a separate charge, the CIAA has also filed a case against Sujata Bhattarai, then biomedical engineer at Department of Health Services, under Section 19(2) of the Act. She faces imprisonment and monetary penalties if found guilty.
