KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress lawmaker and former minister Mohan Bahadur Basnet has been suspended from the House of Representatives following a corruption case filed against him.
Speaker Dev Raj Ghimire read out the letter of suspension during Thursday’s House session. Basnet was automatically suspended under the Prevention of Corruption Act after the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) lodged a case against him at the Special Court.
Basnet, along with 15 others, faces charges of irregularities and corruption in the procurement of the Telecommunications Traffic Monitoring and Fraud Control System (Teramocs). The CIAA has demanded a recovery of Rs 3.21 billion from the accused.
With this, Basnet joins the list of prominent Nepali Congress leaders—Khum Bahadur Khadka, Chiranjibi Wagle, Govinda Raj Joshi, and Bijay Kumar Gachhadar—who have faced major corruption charges.
Basnet, who won the 2022 general election from Sindhupalchok constituency-2, was serving as Minister for Information and Communication during the period in question. The CIAA claims the accused colluded to embezzle funds during the Teramocs procurement process, resulting in the automatic suspension of Basnet from his parliamentary role.
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