Special Court Orders Release on General Bail for Five Accused in Pokhara Airport Corruption Case

Kathmandu. The Special Court has ordered that five accused individuals, including former Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini, be released on general bail to face trial in the corruption case related to the construction of the Pokhara Regional International Airport.

On Monday, the bench comprising Special Court judges Narayan Prasad Poudel, Hemanta Rawal, and Bidur Koirala ordered the release of the five individuals on general bail. The court decided that the accused do not need to be detained and can fight the case from outside custody.

Those released on general bail include Madhu Kumar Marasini, then Joint Secretary (currently Secretary) at the Ministry of Finance; Ramchandra Subedi, then Manager at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN); Suman Prasad Sharma, then Secretary at the Ministry of Finance; Prem Upadhyay (Prem Nath Upadhyay), then Under Secretary; and Mohan Krishna Sapkota, then Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation.

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had filed the case alleging corruption by colluding with the Chinese company 'China CMC Engineering' during the construction of the Pokhara International Airport, resulting in an unnatural inflation of the cost estimate.

According to the CIAA, the approved cost estimate for the airport was US$179,697,000, which was increased to US$244,040,450. The CIAA's charge sheet mentioned that this caused an illegal loss of US$74,343,450 (Nepali Rupees 8 Billion 36 Crore 73 Lakh 55 Thousand 217) to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.