A special court has ruled that there is suspected corruption in the corruption case related to the connection of Mobile Device Management System (MDMS) for the regulatory body Nepal Telecommunication Authority. The court convicted three foreign companies (JVs) including the two former chairpersons of the authority, Digambar Jha and Purushottam Khanal, for irregularities in the MDMS procurement process.

The joint bench of special court chairman Teknarayan Kunwar and member judges Ritendra Thapa and Vidur Koirala gave a partial verdict in the corruption case on Thursday.

According to the daily pay list of the court on February 22, 20 people including Jha were charged as the main defendant in the case in which the government of Nepal is the plaintiff. According to the claim of the government lawyer, there was corruption of Rs.919.8 million, Rs.

In the charge sheet filed by the Abuse of Authority Investigation Commission on 15th Chait 2080, action was demanded against 18 people including the former chairman of the authority, Jha and Khanal. In addition, it was claimed that three companies (JVs) were also involved and that they should be charged for fines, imprisonment, fines and expenses incurred from illegal contracts. The court has held that more than 230 million corruption occurred in the MDMS procurement process.  

The two former presidents who were found guilty and the joint venture (JV) company that got the MDMS contract have been fined Rs. The court sentenced Jha and Khanal to one more month of imprisonment for violating the legal norms in the MDMS procurement process and causing financial loss to the government while being the chairman of the authority. 

The company that got the MDMS contract, Numbera (M) Sdn Berhad Malaysia, Namaste Global Communication Pvt Ltd Singapore and OSI Consulting Pvt Ltd India's joint venture was also found guilty by the court. 

Defendants Anandraj Khanal, Dipesh Acharya, Surendra Lal Hada, Min Prasad Aryal, Achutanand Mishra, Revathiram Panth, Sandeep Adhikari, Vinod Chandra Shrestha, Surya Prasad Lamichhane, Pratiksha Paudel, Vijay Kumar Rai Yadav, Nirajan Koirala  and others have been acquitted. 

The authority has been claiming that this system has been put into operation since October 1, 2019, to control illegal mobile phones. Since then, the authority has repeatedly issued notices and warned that mobile phones brought from abroad and newly purchased must be registered in the system and if not, the phone will not work . Such warnings have caused confusion among the general public, but the authority has not given any clear information about the effect on the number of illegally imported mobile phones.