Graft case filed against former minister Shahi, 31 others

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Thursday filed a graft case against 32 persons, including former Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Jeevan Bahadur Shahi, for their alleged involvement in carrying out irregularities while procuring a wide-body aircraft for the national flag carrier- Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC).

The anti-corruption watchdog also filed a case against then General Manager of NAC Sugat Ratna Kansakar, the government secretary and Chairman of NAC Board of Directors Shankar Prasad Adhikari, then Director General of Customs Department and then NAC Board of Directors Shishir Kumar Dhungana, Civil Aviation Ministry's Joint Secretary Buddhi Sagar Lamichhane and others.

The CIAA has sought Rs 1.471 million in recovery for their alleged involvement in the misappropriation in the procurement of the wide-body aircraft.

Similarly, others implicated in the case are Board of Directors Teknath Acharya, Jiban Prakash Sitaula, Achyut Raj Pahadi, Nima Nuru Sherpa and Muktiram Pandey, according to the CIAA.

The Commission has also sued aircraft suppliers’ company's representatives, citizens from Germany, Romania and Moldova.

AAR International INC’s chief and four others have also been named as the alleged ones claiming Rs 1.471 billion in compensation, CIAA Spokesperson Narahari Ghimire said.