KATHMANDU: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a corruption case at the Special Court over alleged large-scale financial irregularities linked to the construction of the Pokhara Regional International Airport, seeking recovery of more than Rs 3.62 billion in damages.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the anti-graft body said former Finance Minister Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, senior government officials, and a Chinese contractor company have been named as defendants for allegedly granting tax exemptions in violation of the original contract agreement, causing losses to the state treasury.
According to the CIAA, the agreement signed between the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal and China CAMC Engineering Co. Ltd. required the contractor to bear all taxes and duties related to the project.
However, investigators claim that contrary to the original agreement, tax exemptions were later provided through an implementation agreement.
The commission alleged that payments were made to the contractor inclusive of tax amounts, but the taxes that should have been deposited into the state treasury were never paid, resulting in what it described as double benefits for the contractor company.
The CIAA said the alleged irregularities caused a loss of approximately Rs 3.62 billion, accusing those involved of misappropriating public property.
The charge sheet names former minister Karki, former government secretaries Shankar Prasad Adhikari and Maheshwor Neupane, along with several senior bureaucrats, as defendants.
Former joint secretaries Kewal Prasad Bhandari, Suresh Acharya, and Danduraj Ghimire, as well as former project director-general Sanjiv Gautam and other officials, have also been implicated in the case.
The commission has additionally named Wang Bo, chairman of the Chinese contractor company, and project manager Yang Zhigang as accomplices in the alleged corruption scheme.
The CIAA said it has sought recovery of the alleged embezzled amount, fines, and imprisonment for the accused under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2002.
The case is being viewed as one of Nepal’s largest corruption cases linked to a major national infrastructure project.
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