Banking News – Nepal’s Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a corruption case at the Special Court, Kathmandu, against Hom Prakash Chaudhary (Kurmi), Vice Chairperson of Shuddhodhan Rural Municipality in Kapilvastu, and Suresh Kahar, accusing them of involvement in a Rs. 500,000 bribery scheme.

According to the CIAA, the investigation was launched following a complaint alleging that the accused had accepted money by promising to secure employment at the rural municipality. The investigation confirmed that Rs. 500,000 was deposited into Vice Chairperson Chaudhary’s bank account.

The anti-graft body stated that under the approved annual program for the fiscal year 2022/23, the rural municipality had released an advance payment of Rs. 600,000 for implementing the “Vice Chairperson Program Against Judicial Inequality.” Responsibility for implementing the program had been assigned to Suresh Kahar, and the full amount was transferred to his bank account in accordance with the agreement.

However, the CIAA alleged that Rs. 500,000 was transferred from Kahar’s account to Chaudhary’s account shortly after the funds were received, while there was little evidence that the program had been meaningfully implemented.

The investigation further found that Kahar’s bank account had no other significant financial transactions apart from the advance payment received for the program.

According to the CIAA, the evidence confirms that Rs. 500,000 from the program’s advance budget was demanded, accepted, and paid as a bribe, concluding that Chaudhary and Kahar acted in collusion to commit corruption.

The commission said it has sought punishment against both accused under Section 3 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2002, by filing a charge sheet before the Special Court, Kathmandu.