Seven former Land Revenue officials of Parsa convicted of corruption

KATHMANDU: The Special Court has convicted seven former officials of the Parsa Land Revenue Office on charges of corruption.

In a verdict delivered on Monday, the Special Court found the officials guilty in a case filed by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on November 6, 2023.

The convicted officials are former Land Revenue Officers Harinarayan Mishra, Bhup Bahadur Bogati, Gopal Dhungana, Padam Prasad Aryal, Chandra Bahadur Bhandari, Kiran Prasad Upadhyay, and Computer Officer Kumod Bhandari.

The court has sentenced them to prison terms and fines for embezzling revenue.

Specific sentencing for Mishra, Bogati, Dhungana, Aryal, and Tiwari will be determined on the hearing scheduled for June 19.

One of the convicted, Upadhyay, has already passed away.

The court has ordered a compensation of Rs 12,511,190.75, to be recovered from his sons Rajkishore, Gautam, Pashupati, and Murari Upadhyay.

Mishra and Bogati have each been fined Rs 12,511,990.

Dhungana is required to pay Rs 3,545,950, Aryal Rs 1,681,600, and Tiwari Rs 12,511,190.

Chandra Prasad Bhandari has been sentenced to six months in prison and fined Rs 488,900, double the amount of the misappropriated funds.

The case details

The CIAA investigation revealed that during the fiscal year 2014/15, officials at the Land Revenue Office, Parsa embezzled revenue collected from land transactions.

They failed to deposit registration fees and capital gains taxes collected from various deeds into the government treasury.

The officials colluded to use the same registration number for multiple transactions, thereby pocketing the revenue.

The CIAA filed charges against Harinarayan Mishra for embezzling Rs 20,931,647, and Bhup Bahadur Bogati for embezzling Rs 14,969,145.