Special Court Orders Release on Personal Bond in Pokhara Airport Corruption Case Involving Dr. Punyaraj Shakya

Kathmandu. The Special Court has ordered that defendant Dr. Punyaraj Shakya be released on personal bond while proceedings continue in the corruption case related to the construction of the Pokhara Regional International Airport.

The order was issued on Monday by the bench comprising Special Court Chairman Sudarshan Dev Bhatta and members Hemanta Rawal and Umesh Koirala. During his testimony before the court, defendant Dr. Shakya asserted that he was involved only in the technical and financial evaluation as a member appointed by the Board of Directors of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) and claimed he did not gain any personal benefit.

Furthermore, he claimed that since he separated from the Authority in 2071 BS, he had no involvement in the subsequent procurement agreements and implementation.

Considering the evidence attached to the case file and the defendant's statement, the court determined that, based on the immediately available evidence, it was not necessary to detain him or demand bail.

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had filed a case against defendant Dr. Punyaraj Shakya and others, alleging corruption through the deliberate and unnatural inflation of cost estimates during the procurement process for the Pokhara Regional International Airport construction.

According to the charge sheet, in collusion with China's 'China CAMC Engineering Co. Ltd.', the estimated cost, which should have been US$ 169.697 million, was unnaturally inflated to US$ 244.040450 million. It is alleged that this action caused an illegal loss of NPR 8,367,355,297.50 to the public entity.