Kathmandu, June 1: The Special Court has ordered former Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara to be released on a bail amount of Rs. 100,000 while he faces a smuggling case.
A bench comprising Special Court Chair Sudarshan Dev Bhatt and member Bidur Koirala ordered Mahara to furnish the bail in connection with a case accusing him of assisting in gold smuggling by concealing gold inside electronic cigarettes (vapes).
On Chaitra 26, 2082 BS, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a corruption case against 29 individuals, including former Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara and his son Rahul Mahara, alleging their involvement in facilitating gold smuggling through the Tribhuvan International Airport Customs Office.
According to the CIAA, on Poush 10, 2079 BS, Chinese national Li Hang Song arrived on a Flydubai flight carrying two suitcases. Inside the suitcases were 730 electronic cigarettes (vapes) packed in 73 boxes. The anti-graft body alleges that gold had been secretly concealed inside the vapes and that customs officials colluded in the smuggling operation.
The CIAA further alleged that although the suspicious cargo should have been physically inspected, customs officials deliberately failed to conduct any examination in collusion with the smugglers.
The anti-corruption agency also claimed that, instead of storing the seized goods in a warehouse as required, they were intentionally kept in the office of the Chief Customs Officer. It further alleged that Mahara and others maintained unusual meetings and telephone contacts with members of the group seeking to secure the release of the gold, leading to the filing of corruption charges against them.
People’s News Monitoring Service.
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