Sudan scam: 5 convicted, 31 get clean chit
- Special Court sends 3 former police chiefs, two suppliers to slammer
In a landmark verdict, the Special Court on Monday convicted three former police chiefs—Om Bikram Rana, Hem Bahadur Gurung and Ramesh Chand Thakuri—and two suppliers, Michael Rider, director of the London-based Assured Risks and his local agent Shambhu Bharati, in the Sudan scam case. The court also acquitted 31 other police officers.
Millions of rupees were embezzled while purchasing Armoured Personnel Carries (APC) for the Nepali peacekeeping mission in Sudan, Darfur.
The full bench of the court led by Chairman Gauri Bahadur Karki slapped a fine of Rs 560 million on Rider. The court held him responsible for supplying obsolete APCs for the Sudan mission and slapped a two-year jail sentence on him.
The court also slapped a fine of Rs 142 million on Bharati, who is also the director of Bhagwati Traders, to compensate losses incurred by the government and a similar amount for supplying sub-standard logistics to Nepal Police.
The court also set a fine of Rs 170 million on former IGP Rana, Rs 64.8 million on ex-IGP Gurung and Rs 48.54 million on Thakuri. The court sentenced all the three IGPs and Bharati to two years in jail.
Around six years ago, the Nepal Police Headquarters had commissioned Assured Risks to supply eight APCs and other logistics worth Rs 445 million for the Sudan mission. However, a large amount was pocketed by politicians, senior police officials and contractors. The State Affairs Committee and the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had separately investigated the case. The CIAA had concluded that around Rs 290 million was embezzled in the procurement process. The anti-graft body had on June 7, 2011 filed corruption cases against 34 police officers and two suppliers on charges of embezzling some Rs 290 million.
Gurung and Thakuri on Monday left the court premises just before the verdict after becoming certain that they will be convicted. However, Rana and Bharati did not appear before the court while most of the other police officers gathered on the premises. Their number increased dramatically after the court convicted only their bosses and suppliers. “Justice has been done. The decision has upheld my faith in the court,” said AIG Madan Bahadur Khadka, who was suspended for his alleged involvement in the scam. “I will now resume duties. I think this is an excellent verdict.”
“I have spent 247 stressful days. But today I am happy,” said suspended DSP Dinesh KC. With the verdict, 23 suspended police officers—AIG Madan Bahadur Khadka and Arjun Jung Shahi, DIG Ramesh Bikram Shahi and Topendra Dhwoj Hamal, SSP Ravi Pratap Rana, Shyam Bahadur Khadka, Shiva Lamichhane, Ramesh Kumar Pande, Bijaya Lal Kayastha and Ajit Kumar Gurung, SP Niraj Bahadur Shahi, Gupta Bahadur Shrestha, Sanjay Singh Basnet, Pitambar Adhikari, Manoj Neupane, Krishna Prasad Guragain and Ram Krishna Rajbhandari—will rejoin duties. DSP Bidhyaraj Shrestha, Prakash Adhikari and Dinesh Adhikari, and Inspectors Arjun Prasad Timilsina and Lal Govinda Shrestha were also given clean chits.
CIAA officials said they have taken the verdict positively. CIAA Spokesperson Ishwori Paudyal said the office will take a decision on whether to appeal the clean chits in the Supreme Court after going through the verdict in detail.
Will Rider face justice in Nepal?
KATHMANDU: While the Special Court convicted Michael Rider, the director of the London-based Assured Risks, for supplying obsolete APCs and logistics, the person has neither appeared before the court nor has he appointed lawyers to defend his case. The big question here is can Rider be brought to Nepal to face justice? “We issued the verdict, but it will be difficult to implement it,” said Special Court Registrar Dhir Bahadur Chanda. In an email, Rider had told the Post that he was looking forward to take the case to an international court. “We look forward to seeing the Nepal Police in an International Court,” he
had said. (PR)
Posted on: 2012-02-14 09:38
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