The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has arrested Sunil Paudel, the then managing director of Nepal Telecom, and Bikal Paudel, the then executive director of Security Printing Center.
According to CIAA Spokesperson Narahari Ghimire, a CIAA team arrested the two on Wednesday.
The anti-graft body has filed separate corruption cases against them at the Special Court. Both remain suspended after the cases were filed against them.
Sunil is one of the defendants in a corruption case related to the procurement of the National Payment Gateway system.
On October 2, 2023, the CIAA lodged a corruption case against the then chief of the Budget and Program Division at the Finance Ministry and former Industry Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini and eight others at the Special Court.
Other defendants in the case are Sunil Paudel, the then executive director of National Information Technology Center (NITC) Sanjay Sharma, the then executive director of NITC Pranita Upadhyaya, former deputy director of NITC Safal Shrestha, former assistant director of NITC Ramesh Prasad Pokharel, former account officers of NITC Nim Bahadur Oli and Ram Bahadur Budha, and former computer engineer with NITC Ram Sharan Gayak.
The CIAA has accused Marasini of allocating budget for procurement of equipment for the National Payment Gateway without completing the necessary stages for budget allocation even though that was not included in the policies and programs. It has also claimed that procurement worth Rs 250 million was made without including necessary documents related to preparations.
The CIAA has sought claims of Rs 232.75 million and imprisonment of Sharma, Upadhyaya, Paudel, Budha, Pokharel, Gayak and Marasini, and claims of Rs 1.79 million from Shrestha.
Bikal is a defendant in a corruption case related to the procurement of security printing press.
The CIAA filed a corruption case against Bikal and eight others in April 2023. It has sought claims of Rs 2.69 billion from them, including Rs 690.88 million from Bikal alone.
