The Authority has filed a case against the official for bribery and money laundering on charges of accepting a bribe of Rs 7 million while he was the Director General of the Revenue Investigation Department.
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A corruption case has been filed against three people, including the then Director General of the Revenue Investigation Department and Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning of Bagmati Province, Jhalakram Adhikari.
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a case against the then Director General of the department, Provincial Secretary Adhikari, Managing Director of The Kuti Resort Pvt. Ltd. Devendra KC and Ravichandra Lamichhane of Banke in a special court on Sunday. Similarly, a second case has been filed against Adhikari for laundering the bribe money and purchasing land.
The CIAA has demanded a fine of Rs 7 million against Adhikari in the bribery case, a fine of the amount, imprisonment and recovery of the bribe money. In the property laundering case, it has demanded a fine of the amount, additional punishment including confiscation of the property acquired through bribery. Similarly, a fine of Rs 2 million has been imposed against KC and a fine of Rs 5 million against Lamichhane, informed CIAA spokesperson Suresh Neupane. The agency had brought them under investigation after a complaint was filed that the then Director General of the department, Adhikari, had laundered property by accepting bribes/bribes.
During the investigation, it was revealed that Adhikari received a bribe/kickback amount from HK's director Shree Krishna Shrestha for facilitating the investigation into revenue leakage at the HK Enterprises Revenue Investigation Department and other crimes related to revenue leakage.
It was also found that Adhikari, along with Ram Adhikari, Bikash Chapagain, Devendra KC, Rabindra Lamichhane and others, laundered the amount by depositing it in banks and financial institutions including Global IME Bank, Lumbini Bikash Bank and Laxmi Sunrise Bank. It was then found that the bribe money was converted into 164.14 square meters of land in Thimi, Bhaktapur.
When Adhikari was the Director General, Shree Krishna Shrestha gave Rs 7 lakh, Rs 7 lakh and Rs 6 lakh to Devendra KC on 24 Shrawan 2079, and the bribe amount finally reached Adhikari in stages, according to the charge sheet filed in the special court. Similarly, on 27 Asho 2079, Shrestha himself had given 50 lakhs to Bikash Chapagain and Rabindra Lamichhane.
According to the officer, all that money finally went to Lamichhane's account. The charge sheet states that the money was then converted into land by giving a check to landowner Narendra Prasad Neupane in Lamichhane's name. The CIAA has also filed a case against Adhikari for money laundering on the charge of abusing the position of a public servant and taking bribes and then laundering the bribe money.
The officer had deposited the money in Bikash Kumar Chapagain's personal account at Laxmi Bank and had Bikash Kumar Chapagain draw a check in the name of landowner Narendra Prasad Neupane. The CIAA has stated that a case has been filed against Adhikari for money laundering as it was confirmed that the defendant Lamichhane accepted the check and purchased the land in the name of landowner Narendra Prasad Neupane. The defendant Adhikari was also involved in the gold smuggling case.
However, due to lack of thorough investigation, the case against him was not prosecuted. During the time of the then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Adhikari became the Director General of the Revenue Investigation Department. Later, when Pushpa Kamal Dahal was the Prime Minister, Adhikari became the Director General of the Immigration Department. While he was in the Immigration Department, he was pulled from the department to the ministry after he was linked to Dawa Tshering, a gold smuggler of Chinese origin.
