Special Court Orders Release on General Bail for Former Airport Manager in Pokhara Airport Irregularity Case

Kathmandu. The Special Court has ordered the release on general bail of Rudra Prasad Phuyal, the then manager of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, who was facing corruption charges in connection with irregularities in the construction of the Pokhara Regional International Airport. A bench comprising three judges of the Special Court, Narayan Prasad Paudel, Dilliratna Shrestha, and Bidur Koirala, issued the order to keep Manager Phuyal on general bail.

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had filed a corruption case against 55 individuals, including 5 former ministers and 10 former secretaries, in the Special Court regarding irregularities in the construction of the Pokhara Regional International Airport. The CIAA sought a claim amount of NPR 8 billion 36 crore 73 lakh 55 thousand 2 hundred 97 in the corruption case filed in the Special Court.

The CIAA had named former ministers Post Bahadur Bogati (deceased), Ramsharan Mahat, Deepak Amatya, Ramkumar Shrestha, and Bhim Acharya as defendants. Among those named as defendants, Nepali Congress leader Mahat was the then Finance Minister, while the remaining four were former Tourism Ministers.

The Pokhara Airport is a national pride project built with loan assistance from China. The subcommittee under the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives had also pointed out irregularities in the airport, whose study began in 2065 BS and construction was completed in 2079 BS, and directed the CIAA to investigate in Baisakh 2082 BS.