Supreme Court to Resume Hearing on Nepal Electricity Authority Transformer Corruption Scandal

Kathmandu. The corruption case regarding the Nepal Electricity Authority's substandard transformer scandal is being heard today at the Supreme Court, having been placed in the 'continued hearing' category. The case is being presided over by a joint bench of judges Sharanga Subedi and Shrikant Paudel.

Previously, on 2082 Bhadra 12, the case was being heard by a bench of Supreme Court judges Abdul Aziz Musalman and Meghraj Pokharel, also under the 'continued hearing' status. Following an arson incident at the Supreme Court during the Gen-Z movement on Bhadra 24, the bench of judges Musalman and Pokharel ordered the submission of case files on 2082 Magh 25.

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed the case in the Special Court in Falgun 2070. The CIAA had filed the case in two phases at that time. Initially, the CIAA filed corruption charges against 18 individuals, including the then Executive Director Dr. Jivendra Jha and then General Managers Rameshwor Yadav and Yugal Kishore Sah.

In the second phase, the CIAA filed cases against foreign agents and other authority employees. The CIAA claimed that the import of substandard transformers caused a loss of 500 million to the state and demanded the recovery of that amount.

After irregularities were found in the procurement of transformers, the CIAA registered four separate cases in the Special Court on Bhadra 9 and 28, 2070, against 60 individuals, including authority employees and supplier companies.

Delivering its verdict on Chaitra 17, 2073, the Special Court convicted 25 people, including high-ranking authority officials and foreign nationals, and ordered the recovery of 460 million from them.

In the 'highly publicized transformer scandal' of the Nepal Electricity Authority, 20 employees, including two former chief executive directors, were convicted.

Similarly, five individuals from Chinese and Thai companies that supplied the transformers were also convicted. The Special Court ordered the recovery of over 463 million as fines from those convicted. The CIAA initiated the investigation after transformers imported from India, China, and Thailand began exploding frequently.