Kathmandu, April 10: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority has filed a corruption case against 29 individuals, including former Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara and his son Rahul, accusing them of involvement in gold smuggling through the Tribhuvan International Airport customs office.
The anti-graft body has also charged key customs officials, including Chief Customs Administrator Arun Pokharel, Chief Customs Officers Muktiprasad Shrestha and Ambikaprasad Khanal, along with officers Ramesh Kumar Khatiwada and Subendra Shrestha. Several non-gazetted officers have also been named.
Alongside Mahara and his son, the accused include Nirmal Kumar Bik, Lokendra Kumar Poudel, Dipesh Basnet, Gopal Subedi, Dinesh Basnet, Bed Prakash Agrawal, Ram Keshav Thapa, Amrit Karki, and Nima Gurung.
Others facing charges include Prerana Thapa, Lalita Thapa, Dipika Thapa, Chinese nationals- Li Hang Song and Dojing Wang, Belgian national Dawa Chhiring, and Indian national Saheb Rao Pandurang. The company Dekter Travels and Tours Pvt Ltd has also been implicated.
According to the investigation, on December 25, 2022, Li Hang Song arrived in Kathmandu on a FlyDubai flight carrying two suitcases. Inside were 73 boxes containing 730 electronic cigarettes (vapes), allegedly used to conceal smuggled gold.
The CIAA claims customs officials colluded with smugglers by failing to conduct mandatory inspections despite suspicious indicators. Instead of storing the seized goods in a warehouse, officials allegedly kept them in the chief customs officer’s office and maintained unusual contact with individuals linked to the smuggling network.
Authorities further allege that the suspicious cargo was held at customs for about 19 days before being transferred to the case and auction section, and was deliberately moved to areas outside CCTV coverage to allow tampering.
The case involves the smuggling of approximately 8.48 kilograms of gold, with an alleged embezzlement of Rs 77.868 million.
The CIAA has charged customs officials directly with corruption, while Mahara, his son, and others have been accused of acting as accomplices.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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