KATHMANDU, July 15: Special Court (SC) has given clean chit to the former governor of the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) and two others who had been implicated in corruption.

A joint bench of the Chairman of SC and judge Shivraj Adhikari, Balendra Rupakheti and Shanti Singh Thapa aquitted Rawal of corruption charges citing the lack of reliable evidence.

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had filed a case against him earlier on December 20, 2018 claiming a fine of Rs 9.1 million and punishment for his alleged involvement in corruption while printing polymer notes.

Spokesperson for the SC, Pushparaj Pandey, quoting the verdict, said that Rawal was given the clean chat as ‘it would not be justifiable to remand the accused based on suspicion.’

“It was found that no sufficient investigation was carried out regarding the evidence related to e-mail,” the SC stated in the verdict adding that email could be verified as the direct evidence to the case. “They lack direct and reliable pieces of evidence.”

The anti graft body, CIAA, had accused him of financial irregularities while printing 50 million polymer notes of Rs 10 by the NRB.

Similarly, Upendra Keshari Poudyal, the then chief of the Note Department, and local agent of the Mayflower Limited Himalaya Bahadur Pandey were also given clean chit by the court. The CIAA had sought a fine amount of Rs 9.1 million each from them.

The anti-graft body had accused them of misappropriating the amount. The anti-graft body, in its charge-sheet, had accused all three of embezzling the amount by using low-quality materials in the printing polymer note of Rs 10 through the local agent of the printing company.

 
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