Former Nepal Bank MD, seven other ex-officials, businessmen sentenced
The Special Court today convicted 85 persons, including some former high-ranking officials of the Nepal Bank Limited, in four separate cases filed by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) five years ago.
A three-member panel of Special Court Judges Govinda Prasad Parajuli, Rana Bahadur Bam and Bhoopdhoj Adhikary convicted former managing director of Nepal Bank Limited, Sher Bahadur Thapa, along with other former bank officials and businessmen of misappropriating millions in four bank dealings. The CIAA had sought the court’s order in recovering Rs 530 million from the 142 accused.
Thapa, one of the main accused, was handed down a sentence of eight years in jail in four separate cases. He was given two-year terms in each of the cases and was asked to pay a total fine of Rs 20,000. The bench also directed him to repay all the embezzled amount if the other convicted officials failed to repay their share.
The court also convicted businessmen from the Acharya, Shahani, Gadtaula and Malla groups in the scam. Some businessmen of the Acharya group were convicted for amassing Rs 210 million, Shahani group for Rs 190 million, Gadtaula group for Rs 96 million and Malla group for Rs 20 million.
The CIAA had filed a corruption case against the persons charging them of misappropriating a whopping Rs 530 millions in four scams. The court handed down two and three-year jail terms on former bank officials Purusottam Prasad Shrestha and Uttam Kumar Nepal respectively, one-year-terms on Mahanta Bahadur Maharjan, Shahi Kiran Shrestha and Ambar Kumar Khadka, 2-year-term on Rajani Lochan Prasad Tandukar and six-months term on Krishna Prasad Karanjit. Thirty-six other former officials were fined.
Convicted businessmen Rosan Man Joshi, Pradeep Neupane, Bishworam Shrestha, Narendra Mehar Shrestha, Purnaman Sharma Dawadi, Lok Bahadur Shrestha, Isworman Shrestha, Bijaya Prasad Lohani, Keshav Prasad Bhattarai, Mahanta Bahadur Maharjan and Ishworman Joshi were directed by the court to pay back the amount they had amassed.
The court also ordered businessmen Prakash Manandhar, Tirtha Narayan Maharjan, Narendraraj Bhattarai, Keshav Lal Shrestha, Madan Prasad Dhungel, Indira Gurung, and Mohan Shahani, to repay the amount they had taken. The bench further imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on each on them.Other businessmen convicted in the cases are Mahendra Gadtaula, Purusottam Prasad Shrestha, Binod Shrestha, Durga Dutta Pandey, Shanti Shrestha, Prakash Rana Balananda Chaudhari and Pradip Man Tuladhar. However, some accused, including Dr prafulla Man Karmacharya, Mukunda Prasad Aryal, Prof Dr Bishwambher Pyakuryal, Dharendra Sumsher Rana, Gopi Lal Shrestha, Bhawani Devi Sharma and Diwakar Kumar Adhikary, were given a clean chit.
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