KATHMANDU: The Special Court has ordered former Health Secretary Dr Sangita Kaushal Mishra to post bail of Rs 500,000 in connection with a corruption case involving Rs 140 million.
The order was issued on Wednesday following a hearing in the case. A bench comprising judges Narayan Paudel, Dilli Ratna Shrestha and Bidur Koirala directed Mishra to furnish the bail amount.
Earlier, on Kartik 2, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had filed a corruption case at the Special Court against Mishra and 14 others, seeking recovery of Rs 140.685 million in damages. The case relates to alleged corruption in the procurement of 3D mammography machines.
Those charged along with Mishra include then Director General of the Department of Health Services Dr Mishra, Director Dr Shravan Kumar Thapa, senior health administrator Dr Surendra Prasad Chaurasia, Director Dr Bibek Kumar Lal, Chief Accounts Controller Bhuvan Prasad Kafle, public health officer Dipak Adhikari, section officer Yadav Prasad Sapkota, accounts officer Shambhu Prasad Dhakal, legal officer Sita Ghimire, biomedical engineer Ashish Chauhan, Padma Mishra, public health inspector Sanjay Kumar Sah, and accountant Tilak Ram Dhakal.
The CIAA has also filed a case against contractor company Maxim Incorporation Traders Pvt Ltd and its operator Sundar Bhusal.
According to the charge sheet, Mishra is accused of causing a loss of Rs 144.3 million. The proposal had fixed the price of five machines at Rs 25.1 million each, totalling Rs 125.5 million, but the final cost was raised to Rs 141.8 million after adding VAT, which the anti-graft body claims amounted to corruption.
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