Court acquits former Nepal Telecom chief and 17 others in corruption case

Kathmandu / July 09: The Special Court on Thursday acquitted then Nepal Telecom managing director Sunil Paudel and 17 others in a corruption case related to the state-owned telecom company’s billing system upgrade.

A bench of Special Court judges Narayan Prasad Paudel and Bidur Koirala cleared all 18 defendants, dismissing the corruption charges filed by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA).

The anti-graft agency had accused the defendants of colluding to commit large-scale financial irregularities during the procurement and upgrade of Nepal Telecom’s billing system.

The CIAA alleged that the accused had abused their official positions, causing significant financial losses to the state. It had sought Rs330 million in damages from the defendants.

Those acquitted include former managing director Paudel, Sangita Aryal (also known as Sangita Pahadi), Pratibha Shrestha (also known as Pratibha Baidya), Rajendra Shrestha, Jhavindra Lal Upadhyaya, Devendra Khatiwada, Binita Shrestha, Amul Pradhan, Rajiv Kumar KC, Hem Prabha Ram Pratap Karna (also known as Hem Prabha Karna), Nawal Chaudhary, Mukti Prasad Aryal, Santosh Kumar Shrestha and Parmatma Bhattarai, among others.