Verdict on CIT cases today Kathmandu, July 20- At the end of a weeklong interrogations into a case of alleged irregularities in the Citizen Investment Trust (CIT), the Royal Commission for Control of Corruption (RCCC) will issue its verdict on whether to remand the accused in custody on Wednesday.The investigation team of the RCCC has filed cases, as per Clause 17 of the Corruption Control Act 2059, against three persons—the executive director of the Trust Nandahari Sharma, deputy manager Sushil Kumar Aryal and debtor Nisha Thapa —on charges of irregularities while approving and taking loans from the organisation, the RCCC said.The CIT had issued about Rs. 50 million loans to Nisha Thapa last fiscal year when she already was in the defaulters’ list of the Standard Finance Company and Sidhhartha Bank from where she had taken loans amounting to Rs. 40 million and Rs. 20 million respectively.The land at Putali Sadak that was shown as the collateral had already been used to get loans from Standard Finance Company and the Company was about to auction the land to recoup its loan. The investigation also found that Thapa had even taken Rs. 4 million loans from Harati Cooperative with the same land as security and the money was used to pay the interest to another finance company, the Commission said.The creditor found that she had taken loans by setting up a pseudo company named BN Supermarket. The CIT officials are accused of providing loans to Thapa despite knowing that the land was used as collateral in another finance company. They are charged of misusing the deposits of the civil servants, the Commission said. The issuance of the loan was also against the criteria of the CIT Act 2047, the RCCC said. All the defendants are under judicial custody.Meanwhile, the Commission said that it had finished seeking explanations from the witnesses of the Melamchi Drinking Water Project scam and the hearings on the case would start from Wednesday.Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and former minister Prakash Man Singh are in judicial custody after they refused to deposit the amount of Rs. 5 million demanded by the RCCC bench in connection with the alleged irregularities while awarding contract of the main access road of the Project. Firing in Siraha court Siraha, July 20-Irate villagers surrounded Siraha district court and stoned it after the release of two persons charged for murder Tuesday, Nepal Samacharpatra reports.Security forces fired dozens on rounds in the air while dozens of persons were injured in a clash. No alternative to acting CJ’ Kathmandu, July 20 - Speaker Tara Nath Ranabhat has categorically said that there is no alternative other than to appoint an acting chief justice after the present Chief Justice (CJ), Hari Prasad Sharma's, term ends on July 29. The recommendation of the Constitutional Council (CC) is required for the king while appointing a new chief justice. However, in the absence of the prime minister, who heads the Constitutional Council, no such recommendation can be made. Besides, the Speaker has also ruled out the possibility of using Article 127 by the king to appoint the new chief justice. "If the Constitution is to be abided by, there is no alternative [for the king] than to designate the senior-most justice of the Supreme Court to act as acting chief justice [when the incumbent CJ retires], " Ranbhat said. The Speaker, who is also a CC member, made the remarks when the Post inquired about how the next chief justice would be appointed by the king in the absence of a prime minister." When asked about the possibility of invoking Article 127 to appoint the new CJ, he said, "That option is not available till Article 87 (4) of the Constitution remains active." The Article gives authority to the king to designate the senior-most judge to act as the acting chief justice when the office of the CJ becomes vacant, or the latter is unable to carry out the duties of his office due to illness or any other reasons. In an inquiry relating to the possibility of calling a CC meeting to recommend a name as the new CJ, he emphasized, "Nobody except the prime minister, has the authority to call the CC meeting." When asked whether he had talked with the king on the issue, he replied, "No, not yet." However, newly appointed Law Minister, Niranjan Thapa, said that the issue of appointing the next CJ is being mulled over. SC Upholds WLL Stay Order Kathmandu, July 20 - The Supreme Court (SC), on Tuesday, upheld its July 11 order to Nepal Telecom (NT) to stay all ongoing work of CDMA-based basic telephone services. The state-owned company was carrying out preparations on a war footing to make the service available in the capital by November this year. The state-owned telecom company is required to halt all preparations related to CDMA-based telephone services until the court finalizes the case. Justices Chandra Prasad Parajuli and Rajendra Kumar Bhandari upheld the July 11 stay order, which was effective until Tuesday, stating that the writ petition challenging the operation of CDMA telephone services would be "meaningless if the court does not uphold its earlier stay order". The judges ordered its administration to assign priority to the case. According to lawyers of Nepal Telecom, the company has already spent 750 million rupees for the preparation of the proposed telephone services and has plans to spend 1.83 billion rupees to make available one million lines throughout the country in three phases by 2008. As the judges pronounced the judgement today, officials of Nepal Telecom became shell shocked, and some were even seen with tears in their eyes. The CDMA telephone service is based on the latest wireless technology. Besides, the technology is expected to make telephone network expansion cost effective and time- saving. The technology is said be suitable for Nepal's geographical terrain where wire telephone services is a difficult proposition.

Back to Home