Wagle was picked up from his own residence and put behind bars immediately after the SC ordered a sentence of one-and-a-half years and a penalty of Rs 20.3 million on the senior Nepali Congress leader in February of 2011. [break]
As per legal provisions, if a convict surrenders to the authority within 60 days of the court verdict, he is entitled to a 20 percent cutback on the jail term and penalty.
Former minister Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta and the former chairman of Nepal Oil Corporation Ramagya Prasad Chaturbedi, both convicted of graft charges, had benefited from the provision.
A petition was lodged shortly at the SC on behalf of Wagle seeking reduction of the sentence citing his surrender to the authority.
The verdict issued by the bench of justices Ram Kumar Prasad Shah and Baidhya Nath Shah on Wednesday has lowered Wagle´s prison term by 108 days and the penalty by Rs 4.63 million. Accordingly, he would be released in the third week of April.
Wagle had become the first former minister to be sent to jail after being convicted of graft in February, 2011.
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