Kathmandu. The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a corruption case at the Special Court against former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, Nepali Congress leader and former minister Minendra Rijal, and 95 others over an alleged illegal land transfer and exchange involving government officials and a private company.
The anti-graft constitutional body has sought to recover Rs 734.96 million in damages from the defendants, according to Special Court Registrar Bedraj Uprety.
Former Land Reform Minister Dambar Shrestha and Kamala Ghimire, daughter of former Chief Secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire, are also among those named in the case.
Madhav Prasad Ghimire went missing after the vehicle he was travelling in plunged into the Trishuli River.
Other defendants include former secretary Chhabiraj Panta, former joint secretary Ramesh Chandra Adhikari, former undersecretaries Gandhi Prasad Subedi, Hupendra Mani KC, Nurpati Kandel, Hariraj Panta, Arjun Khadka, Laxman Thapa and Dhruva Sapkota, as well as section officer Balaram Niraula.
According to the CIAA, Rijal Canning and Company had been granted an exemption from the statutory land ownership ceiling on the condition that it establish a fruit-processing industry using additional land acquired in Sunsari and Morang districts.
However, the company allegedly failed to use the land for the designated industrial purpose. As a result, the plots in Biratnagar were liable to confiscation and transfer into public ownership under the applicable legal provisions.
The CIAA alleges that government officials colluded with the company’s owners to avoid the confiscation process and facilitate an unlawful exchange of land.
Under the alleged arrangement, the company sold two high-value plots in Biratnagar and acquired comparatively cheaper land in Banigama of Morang district.
The commission claims that the transaction caused a loss of Rs 734.96 million to the state while providing unlawful financial benefits to the defendants.
The case has now been registered at the Special Court, which will examine the allegations and determine liability through judicial proceedings.
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