A special court has given its permission to remand former Nepal Telecom Managing Director (Ntc MD) Sunil Paudel and To Bikal Paudel, former executive director of the Security Printing Development Committee in custody for a further 21 days. The duo have been indicted by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) in the security printing and payment gateway corruption charges and were first held into custody on 24 January 2024.
The case doesn’t seem to thaw either. It’s the fifth time the court has allowed CIAA to keep the two inside custody for further investigation. On March 31, CIAA went to the special court seeking a 21-day extension for the custody of Sunil Paudel and Bikal Paudel, according to the special court spokesman Dhan Bahadur Karki.
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Former Ntc MD Sunil Paudel and Bikal Paudel to stay in custody
Both are battling corruption charges. They are alleged to have purchased a national payment gateway (NPG) without preparing the necessary infrastructure. Along with Paudel, the former Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Madhu Kumar Marasini was indicted in the case. They are accused of the embezzlement of 232 million 758 thousand and 77 rupees in the purchase of the NPG. The system was purchased 7 years ago and is still not in use.
Likewise, Bikal Paudel has been alleged to have mismanaged Rs 69 million, 981 thousand, and 854 rupees on the purchase of power systems in security printing press and pressurized fuel storage tanks. Check out: Nepal Telecom reduces roaming tariff for calls/SMS and data in India and Thailand
The CIAA will now have more time to continue with its investigation and draw its conclusion. Both the Paudel duos are seasoned government workers but the case has brought serious disrepute into their personalities as well as careers for the future.
