The Supreme Court (SC) has found former minister Govinda Raj Joshi guilty of corruption and sentenced him for nine months.
The bench of Justices Binod Sharma and Bal Krishna Dhakal delivering verdict more than 11 years after registration of the corruption case has jailed him for nine months, according to Joint Spokesperson at the SC Govinda Ghimire. The SC has also fined him Rs 6.915 million concluding that he could not reveal source of properties worth that amount.
The bench, however, has acquitted other defendants in the case Tara Raj Pandey and Basu Dev Panta.
The bench had begun a final hearing on the case on May 14. It had also given both the parties until July 5 to submit their hearing notes.
The corruption case against Joshi was registered at the Supreme Court in February 2013.
In 2003, the then government formed a commission headed by Supreme Court Justice Bhairav Prasad Lamsal to investigate the properties of various high-ranking political leaders.
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) began a detailed investigation into Joshi’s property based on the commission’s report.
The anti-graft body, citing the investigation’s findings, then filed a case against Joshi charging him with amassing a large amount of property against the law. It claimed that Joshi had committed corruption by amassing property worth Rs 39.362 million illegally.
The Special Court initially acquitted Joshi citing the statute of limitations. The CIAA moved the Supreme Court against the Special Court’s decision. The Supreme Court then sent the case back to the Special Court saying the statute of limitations did not apply to corruption cases.
A bench of the then Special Court Chairman Gauri Bahadur Karki and members Om Prakash Mishra and Kedar Prasad Chalise found Joshi guilty of corruption.
The court sentenced Joshi to one and a half years in prison and fined him Rs 21.6 million, ruling that he had amassed illegal property equal to the amount while holding public office from 1991 to 2002.
In its verdict, the court also ordered confiscation of property that Joshi had amassed in his family’s name.
