The Special Court has raised questions about Prem Kumar Rai, the chief commissioner of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA).
The court raised concerns about Rai in its verdict on a corruption case related to the purchase of two wide-body aircraft by Nepal Airlines Corporation.
A bench of Special Court Chairman Tek Narayan Kunwar, and members Tej Narayan Singh Rai and Ritendra Thapa delivered the verdict on December 5, 2024.
The court convicted 12 individuals, sentencing four members of the board of directors to imprisonment and demanding fines from the remaining suppliers.
The full text of the verdict has been made public.
Prem Kumar Rai, currently the CIAA chief, was the secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation at the time. He was also the chairman of the Nepal Airlines Corporation's board of directors.
On April 4, 2024, the CIAA filed a case at the Special Court against 32 individuals, including former minister Jeevan Bahadur Shahi, claiming damages of Rs 1.47 billion.
While the CIAA filed charges against the then minister, secretaries, and board members, Rai, the then-secretary and NAC board chairman, was not named as a defendant.
The Special Court raised concerns about this omission.
On April 14, 2016, a board meeting chaired by then-secretary Rai decided to form a subcommittee to purchase two wide-body aircraft for the corporation. However, the court noted that the CIAA’s charge sheet did not dispute this decision.
While others involved in the procurement process were charged with causing losses and committing corruption based on the same decision, Rai was not prosecuted, as noted in the full verdict.
The court stated, “It appears that no charges were brought against some officials involved in the purchase process. Adopting a selective approach—prosecuting some and not others for the same act—violates the principle of equal justice. Such actions undermine the belief that the law applies equally to all and weaken trust in justice.”
The verdict also noted that the procurement process was finalized after the subcommittee formed by the board was established.
The bench convicted then-general manager of NAC Sugat Ratna Kansakar, Chairman Shankar Adhikari, director general of the Department of Customs Shishir Dhungana, and joint secretary Buddhi Sagar Lamichhane.
Kansakar was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison, Dhungana and Lamichhane to one year and six months each, and Adhikari to one year and nine months. Kansakar also received a 50 percent reduction in his sentence.
Under the Senior Citizens Act, individuals aged 70 to 75 receive a 50 percent reduction in prison sentences. The court demanded fines equivalent to over Rs 240 million from them.
Suppliers Christian Nuehlen, Oleg Calistru, John M Holmes, Ana Topa, Paulo Mirpuri, Gerald Thornton, and HiFly X Ireland Limited were fined Rs 245.18 million.
Former minister Jeevan Bahadur Shahi, Tek Nath Acharya, Nima Nuru Sherpa, Mukti Ram Pandey, Jeevan Prakash Sitaula, Achyut Raj Pahadi, Ram Hari Sharma Sedhai, Janak Raj Kalakheti, Prabhas Kumar Karmacharya, Ganesh Bahadur Chand, Karna Bahadur Thapa, Subhas Rijal, Ramesh Bahadur Shah, Rabindra Kumar Sherchan, Rabindra Shrestha, Upendra Paudel, Shrawan Rijal, Paras Paudel, Umesh Paudel, Brihat Man Tuladhar, and escrow agents Markus Radbruch and Ralf Springer from Norton Rose Fulbright LLP Germany were acquitted.
In 2016, the procurement process for two wide-body Airbus jets worth nearly Rs 24 billion was initiated. Immediately after the aircraft were acquired, protests erupted over the alleged lack of transparency in the procurement process.
An investigation by the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament in 2018 concluded that the aircraft purchase caused a loss of about Rs 4.35 billion to the corporation.
