Corruption case against Minister Pandey: CIAA prepares to appeal at SC

Published On: January 19, 2023 05:30 PM NPT By: Bhasa Sharma

KATHMANDU, Jan 19: Contractor Bikram Pandey, who was acquitted in a case filed against him at the Special Court on charges of corruption in the national pride Sikta irrigation project, has become the urban development minister.

Pandey assumed office on Tuesday after taking the oath of office and secrecy. The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had filed a corruption case against Pandey at the Special Court. Pandey, who is also the owner of a contractor company, became the urban development minister while the CIAA, dissatisfied with the verdict of the Special Court in favor of Pandey, is preparing to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Elected from Chitwan Constituency-3 on the Rastriya Prajatantra Party’s ticket as a member of the House of Representatives, Pandey is the head of Kalika Construction JV, an 'A' category contractor. On June 20, 2022, the Special Court acquitted 21 people, including Pandey, who is also a former forest minister, in the corruption case.

The CIAA filed the case at the Special Court with the claim that Pandey and others had committed corruption in the Sikta irrigation project. After the Special Court gave a clean chit to Pandey and others, the CIAA is preparing to appeal to the Supreme Court.

CIAA Spokesman Shyam Prasad Bhandari said that after the Special Court acquitted the accused in various corruption cases, the CIAA has appealed in 178 cases till Tuesday. The CIAA has said that the appeal has been delayed due to the fact that the full text of the judgment regarding the corruption case in Sikta irrigation project has not been received. Spokesperson Bhandari said, "Making an appeal in cases where the demand has not been addressed is a regular process. After receiving the full text of the judgment, the authority decides to appeal to the higher court.”

On December 7, 2018, the CIAA registered a case against 21 people including Pandey for alleged corruption in the Sikta irrigation project at the Special Court with a claim of more than eight billion rupees. The CIAA had filed a case against Pandey claiming Rs 2.13 billion. Pandey, who was on the absconding list for a year after the case was registered, later submitted a bail of Rs 400 million to the Special Court.

Seven months ago, the bench of Special Court Chairman and Judge Shrikant Poudel, Judges Ramesh Kumar Pokharel, Yamuna Bhattarai acquitted Pandey and 21 others on the ground that the charges of corruption could not be confirmed. Earlier, on January 16, 2020, the Special Court ordered Pandey to post a bail of 400 million rupees and to appear before the court when summoned.

In Banke district, the main canal of Sikta irrigation project was destroyed while under construction. The original canal, which collapsed during construction, was judged by CIAA to have a flawed design. The canal collapsed during construction due to poor quality work by the technicians, consultants and construction professionals working on the project.

It was the CIAA's claim that inferior materials were used during the construction of the canal with the connivance of builders, irrigation department, and project staff, and mandatory quality testing provisions were not mentioned in the contract documents.

The CIAA registered a case against the former heads of the project demanding 593.4 million rupees from Saroj Chandra Pandit, 1.56 billion rupees from Dilip Bahadur Karki and 2.13 million rupees from Ramesh Basnet.

Similarly, the CIAA filed a case demanding 272.25 million rupees from chief divisional engineers (CDE) Suryadev Thapa and Yogendra Mishra, 585.9 million rupees from Sushil Chandra Devkota, 17 million rupees from Krishna Prasad Subedi, 100.4 million rupees from Prem Raj Ghimire, 101.85 million rupees from Prakash Bahadur Karki, 90.1 million rupees from Udhav Raj Chaulagai. All the accused in the case were acquitted by the Special Court.

Meanwhile, some of the officials accused of corruption cases, who were acquitted by the Special Court on the grounds that the charges against them could not be substantiated, have been found to be corrupt after appealing to the Supreme Court.

A 'conflict of interest' has been seen among the ministers of the coalition government led by CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Criticism of Prime Minister Dahal has increased after he gave the responsibility of the Ministry of Urban Development to a contractor accused of doing poor work and Ravi Lamichhane, who was embroiled in a citizenship dispute, to the Ministry of Home Affairs.