Months on, Special Court struggles to serve notices to ex-APF chiefs

KATHMANDU, Dec 12: Even though almost ten months have elapsed since corruption cases were filed against former Armed Police Force chiefs the Special Court, the court has failed to serve notices to them. The court has claimed non-cooperation from the accused in accepting the notices. 



So far, only Kosh Raj Onta has received court summons order. Other accused former chiefs of the parliamentary force-- Basu Dev Oli, Sanat Kumar Basnet and Shailendra Kumar Shrestha-- are still reluctant to receive the court notices. Onta, was suspended as the head of APF on charge of embezzling funds from state coffers by producing fake documents while transporting essentials to barracks. After the case surfaced, other former APF chiefs Basu Dev Oli, Sanat Kumar Basnet and Shailendra Kumar Shrestha were also found to have faked documents in a similar way.



They, however, have not yet received court summons.  “Court notice could not be serve in cases of Shailendra Kumar Shrestha and Santa Kumar Basnet even though we tried twice,” said Special Court Spokesperson Jagannath Poudel. 



When asked about their refusal to receive court summons, retired chief of armed police force say they have no other bad intention to go against court procedures but it was delayed due to misinformation regarding their residence. 



“I think the court summons is still in Tehrathum [Oli's previous home],” said Oli. 



Like Oli Basnyat also claimed that that the letter was not received saying it was sent to his original address, Khotang. 



Contrary to the court spokespersons' saying, former APF chief Shrestha said he has recently received the summons and will appear before the court within the set date. 

 

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Almost all chiefs of paramilitary force that was formed in October 2001 to counter Maoist insurgency has been dragged to corruption cases.

In February, the CIAA had filed corruption cases against them on charge of misusing millions of state funds in course of transporting logistics from the headquarters to barracks.