Supreme Court Schedules Hearing for Corruption Case Against Former CIA Commissioner Rajnarayan Pathak

Kathmandu. The Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing for the corruption case against former Commissioner of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Rajnarayan Pathak. The case against Pathak has been scheduled for hearing in a joint bench of Supreme Court Justices Nahakul Subedi and Balkrishna Dhakal.

Pathak resigned due to the fear of impeachment after it was revealed that he took a bribe of NPR 7.8 million to settle irregularities within the Nepal Engineering College. After the work was not done despite taking the bribe, the group that invested the money publicly released audio and video recordings of the bribe transaction and discussions.

Although the bribe deal for settling the college irregularities was for NPR 16 million, Nyaupane initially gave a bribe of NPR 7.8 million in two installments as an advance. The group responsible for delivering the amount to Pathak later presented evidence, including audio recordings, to the CIAA.

The CIAA had filed a case in the Special Court against the then Commissioner Pathak and the Chairman of Nepal Engineering College, Lambodar Nyaupane, on charges of corruption for accepting a bribe of NPR 7.8 million. The Special Court sentenced both individuals to 3 years in prison and a fine of NPR 3.9 million each.

Commissioner Pathak received an additional 3 months of imprisonment. Since the Special Court convicted them of attempted corruption and imposed only half the sentence, the CIAA appealed to the Supreme Court for a review.