Kathmandu, July 3: The detention of former finance minister and CPN-UML vice chair Bishnu Paudel has been extended by another six days as authorities continue investigating him in a money laundering case.
The extension was granted for the third time on Thursday by the Special Court.
According to the court administration, a bench comprising judges Hemant Rawal, Dilliratna Shrestha, and Umesh Koirala approved the extension.
“The Department of Money Laundering Investigation presented accused Bishnu Prasad Paudel, who was arrested during the investigation into a money laundering case, seeking an extension of his remand for investigation. Today, Thursday, the court granted a third extension of six days,” the court said in a notice.
Paudel remains in judicial custody. The Department of Money Laundering Investigation had produced him before the court to seek the extension.
He was arrested on June 22 from Surkhet on charges related to a money laundering investigation and was handed over to the department.
The Special Court had initially granted investigators seven days to keep him in custody. On June 29, it extended the remand by another three days.
Paudel is currently being held at the police detention facility in Sanepa, Lalitpur. Investigators allege that he pressured the sale of a 20 percent stake in Shriram Tobacco Pvt. Ltd. to Himalayan Asset Management at an undervalued price and received financial benefits from the deal.
Shriram Tobacco is wholly owned by Infinity Holdings, a company owned by Deepak Bhatt, who is also under investigation after being arrested in a money laundering case. Investigators began probing Paudel after alleged links emerged between him and Bhatt’s assets. The department says the investigation is ongoing.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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