Lekh Bahadur Karki, the then joint secretary of the trust who signed the lease agreement, has already been arrested.
Former Secretary Arjun Kumar Karki has been arrested on charges of irregularities in leasing land of Nepal Trust at Durbarmarg to Thamserku Trekking Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Yeti Holdings, for 30 years. The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of the police has arrested Karki.
Earlier, the then joint secretary of the trust, Lekh Bahadur Karki, who signed the lease agreement, has been arrested. According to CIB spokesperson SSP Shiva Kumar Shrestha, Karki was arrested in connection with an investigation into fraud and criminal breach of trust.
According to CIB, the arrest was made with permission from the District Court, Kathmandu, as Secretary Karki was also involved in leasing the land.
The board of directors of the trust had first approved the plan to lease one ropani and 14 aanas of land on Durbar Marg on 28 Shrawan 2071. About 2 years later, a public notice was issued and a bid was invited for leasing the land.
At that time, 6 companies participated in the competition. However, an investigation officer of the CIB says that the criteria for that bid were also prepared in a way that seemed to be suitable only for Thamserku.
Complaints had already been filed with the Nepal Police and the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority regarding the Durbar Marg land lease case. The police had not taken action on the complaint, while the Authority itself had decided to keep the complaint pending in 2076 BS.
The Auditor General's Office had asked for an investigation. According to officials, Thamserku had initially submitted a proposal of Rs 6.26 billion to lease one ropani and 14 aanas of land in front of the Narayanhiti Durbar. However, on 24 Falgun 2073 BS, he wrote another letter stating that he had not proposed such a large amount.
At that time, the second successful bidder in the technical proposal, Sakh Steel Industries Pvt. Ltd., had proposed Rs 622.458 million and Adrisiya-Lyons JV had proposed Rs 262.28 million.
Officials say that the then Secretary Arjun Kumar Karki had given a nod to Joint Secretary Karki to proceed with the letter saying that he could not pay the amount as proposed. Later, Joint Secretary Karki decided to sign a contract for Rs 1.4 billion as per their proposal on 5 Baisakh 2074 BS.
