KATHMANDU: The Special Court (SC) has found Sunil Paudel, the former Executive Director of the National Information Technology Center and Managing Director of Nepal Telecom, guilty in the corruption case associated with the National Payment Gateway.

Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini and eight others have been acquitted in the same case.

The SC bench, chaired by Justice Tek Narayan Kunwar and Judge Murari Babu Shrestha, pronounced Paudel guilty.

According to SC Information Officer Yagya Narayan Regmi, the Court has set May 7 for sentencing Paudel and others found guilty.

The former Executive Director of the National Information Technology Center, along with his associates, including former Secretary of the Ministry of Science and Technology Sanjay Sharma, former Executive Director of the National Information Technology Center Pranita Upadhyaya, former Director and then Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Budget, and Program Division Madhu Kumar Marasini, former Assistant Director and current Deputy Director Safal Shrestha, former Chief Account Officer Nim Bahadur Oli, former Account Officer Ram Bahadur Buddha, and former Computer Engineer at the National Information Technology Center Ram Sharan Gayak, have been acquitted.

The case involved a fraudulent claim of Rs. 232,758,077.

Paudel has been found guilty and held accountable under Section 17 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2059.