A corruption case has been filed against 55 people, including 5 former ministers and 10 former secretaries, in the case of irregularities in the construction of Pokhara Regional International Airport. The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority filed a corruption case in the Special Court on Sunday, fixing a fine of Rs 8.36 billion 7.355 billion 297 lakhs.

The CIAA has filed a case against former ministers Post Bahadur Bogati (late), Ram Sharan Mahat, Deepak Amatya, Ram Kumar Shrestha and Bhim Acharya. Among the defendants, Congress leader Mahat is the then Finance Minister, while the remaining four are former Tourism Ministers.

According to the CIAA, suspended Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal Pradeep Adhikari and former Director Murari Bhandari have also been made defendants. Both are also defendants in the Nalinchok Heliport construction irregularities. 

Pokhara Airport Construction: Corruption case filed against 55 people including 5 former ministers and 10 former secretaries worth Rs 8 billion 

The then coordinator of the airport construction study task force, Ramkrishna Timalsena, Sureshman Shrestha, Madhu Kumar Marasini, and 10 former secretaries have also been made defendants.

Pokhara Airport is a national pride project built with Chinese loan assistance. The study of this airport, which began in 2065 and was completed in 2079, was also criticized by the subcommittee under the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives in 2082 Baisakh and directed the CIAA to investigate the scam. 

Case over heliport irregularities, Pokhara airport investigation incomplete

The subcommittee had submitted a report to the committee claiming that there was about 10 billion rupees of corruption in the construction of the airport. The committee had sent it to the Authority for further investigation. Seven months after the committee submitted its report, the Authority took the case to the special court on Sunday to conclude the investigation.

These are the 55 people involved in corruption

1. Ram Kumar Shrestha, the then Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority,

2. Bhim Prasad Acharya, the then Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority,

3. Deepak Chandra Amatya, then Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal

4. Ram Sharan Mahat, then Minister of the Ministry of Finance

5. Sushil Ghimire, then Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation

6. Suresh Man Shrestha, then Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation

7. Suman Prasad Sharma, then Secretary of the Ministry of Finance

8. Bhesh Raj Sharma, then Secretary of the Ministry of Law, Justice, Constituent Assembly and Parliamentary Affairs

9. Ranjan Krishna Aryal, then Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation

10. Mohan Krishna Sapkota, then Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation

11. Lok Bahadur Khatri, then Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and Member of the Board of Directors of the Authority

12. Manrup Shahi, then member of the Board of Directors of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal

13. Jyoti Adhikari, then member of the Board of Directors of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal

14. Manoj Karki, then member of the Board of Directors of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal

15. Phurba Tshiring Sherpa, then member of the Board of Directors of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal

16. Suresh Acharya, then Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and then member of the Board of Directors of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal

17. Madan Kharel, then member of the Board of Directors of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal

18. Muktinarayan Poudel, then Director General of the Department of Customs and member of the Board of Directors of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal

19. Surya Prasad Acharya, then Director General of the Department of Customs and member of the Board of Directors of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal

20. Triratna Manandhar, then Director General and Member-Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal

21. Ratish Chandralal Suman, then Director General and Member-Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal

22. Suman Kumar Shrestha, then Deputy Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal

23. Hari Bahadur Khadka, then Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation

24. Roshan Chitrakar, then Deputy Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal

25. Rishikesh Sharma, then Deputy Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal

26. Narayan Giri, then Deputy Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal

27. Mahesh Kumar Basnet, then Deputy Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal

28. Baburam Poudel, then Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal

29. Ashok Kumar Subedi, then deputy director of Nepal Civil Aviation Authority

30. The then manager of Nepal Civil Aviation Authority Murari Bhandari

31. Suvarna Raj Upadhyay, then Deputy Director of Nepal Civil Aviation Authority

32. The then director of Nepal Civil Aviation Authority Pratap Vavu Tiwari

33. The then manager of Nepal Civil Aviation Authority Rudra Prasad Phuyal

34. The then manager of Nepal Civil Aviation Authority Ram Chandra Subedi

35. The former registrar of the Supreme Court. Ramakrishna Timilsena (Dr. Ramakrishna Timilsena)

36. Airport Engineer Dr. Purushottam Dangol

37. Retired director from Nepal Civil Aviation Authority Vinodhananda Chaudhary (Binodanand Chaudhary Maithil Bahun)

38. The then Director of Nepal Civil Aviation Authority Mukund Prasad Bhandari

39. The then manager of Nepal Civil Aviation Authority Ganga Sagar Man Shrestha

40. Pradeep Adhikari, then deputy manager of Nepal Civil Aviation Authority, now director general

41. The then professor of Tribhuvan University, Institute of Engineering Studies, Pulchok. Rabindranath Shrestha

42. Surya Gyawali, then Vice-Professor of Tribhuvan University, Institute of Engineering Studies, Pulchok

43. Santosh Kumar Shrestha, the then Vice-Professor of Tribhuvan University, Institute of Engineering Studies, Pulchok

44. The then Deputy Director of Nepal Civil Aviation Authority Hansraj Pandey

45. The then deputy director of Nepal Civil Aviation Authority Dr. Punyaraj Shakya