SC convicts former Joint Secretary Sabitri Rajbhandari for corruption

KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court has convicted former Joint Secretary Sabitri Rajbhandari in a corruption case.

The division bench of Justices Kumar Regmi and Sunil Kumar Pokharel sentenced Sabitri to one year in prison for corruption, upholding the Special Court’s ruling.

Former chairperson Gauri Bahadur Karki and members Omprakash Mishra and Kedar Prasad Chalise of the Special Court pronounced her guilty of corruption on November 27, 2012.

Rajbhandari entered civil service in 2022 BS as a Section Officer and served as Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport at the time of her leave.

She had a long tenure at the Ministry of Finance and its subordinate bodies.

Sabitri is the wife of former Chief Commissioner of the Election Commission, Achyut Narayan Rajbhandari.

Along with Sabitri, her daughter Monisa Rajbhandari (Basnet) has also been found guilty of concealing property earned from corruption.

Sabitri had kept a sum of Rs 25,293,000 in Himalayan Bank and Nepal Bangladesh Bank under Monisa’s name.

However, the court found that the source of Rs 24,600,000 of that amount could not be traced.

The case reached the Supreme Court on December 12, 2013.