The Special Court has ordered the release of suspended Nepali Congress lawmaker Mohan Bahadur Basnet, also a former minister for communications, on a bail of Rs 2.5 million.
A bench comprising Judges Tej Narayan Singh Rai, Ram Bahadur Thapa, and Bidur Koirala issued the order to release Basnet on bail, said the court’s Deputy Registrar Krishna Sharan Lamichhane.
"He has been ordered to be released upon submitting a bail of Rs 2.5 million or an equivalent bank guarantee," Lamichhane said.
Basnet, accused of corruption in the purchase of the Telecommunications Traffic Monitoring and Fraud Control System (Teramocs) for the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), appeared in court on Sunday.
The bail hearing began after Basnet’s statement was recorded.
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a case against 16 individuals, including Basnet, and two companies on May 15. The CIAA has claimed Rs 3.22 billion each in damages from the accused.
At the time the Teramocs purchase process began, Basnet was the minister for communications and information technology. He directed the NTA to initiate the procurement process through a ministerial decision. The CIAA has determined that Basnet made the decision exceeding his authority.
The CIAA stated that at a time when the Teramocs program was under consideration at the NTA and no decision had been taken to include it in the budget or programs, and Basnet misused his position by including the program to operate Teramocs.
According to the charge sheet filed by the CIAA, Basnet’s decision was also contrary to Section 34 of the Nepal Telecommunications Regulations. The CIAA further noted that Basnet interfered with the NTA’s autonomy by adding the program to the annual programs for the fiscal year 2017-18.
The CIAA highlighted that the Teramocs procurement process was flawed from the start. The then minister did not conduct any feasibility study on the project, violating the prescribed procedure and framework set by the program, according to the charge sheet.
Basnet was automatically suspended as lawmaker after the corruption case was filed against him.
