Anti-graft body arrests Madhyapur Thimi officer, files cases against land office staff

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) arrested the chief administrative officer of Madhyapur Thimi Municipality on a bribery allegation on Monday, November 2, and has filed charge sheets in cases involving two land offices in the Kathmandu Valley.

The commission took Bhojraj Ghimire, the municipality's chief administrative officer, into custody on Monday. Onlinekhabar reported that the CIAA said it arrested him with Rs 3.3 million that it described as a bribe he had taken. Accounts differ on how the cash was found. According to Annapurna Post, a Tata electric car that left the municipality office on Monday afternoon was stopped near the Ajima petrol pump in Nikosera and cash was found in it; the commission took the people in the car, including a relative of Ghimire, into custody and then took Ghimire from his office. That report says the commission alleges Ghimire took the money as a bribe and gave it to the relative to manage. Ratopati and Reporters Nepal, quoting a senior commission official, reported instead that the commission raided the municipality office on a tip-off about a bribe changing hands and recovered the Rs 3.3 million along with documents. Annapurna Post reported that Ghimire denied taking a bribe. When it reported, the seizure record was still being prepared and further details were awaited.

On Friday, October 30, the CIAA filed a charge sheet at the Special Court in Kathmandu against 11 people over a Rs 300,000 bribe it says was demanded and taken at the Land Administration Office in Lagankhel, Lalitpur, to get a deed acknowledging receipt of a share of land passed. Ratopati and Nepal Live reported that the defendants include the office's staff, two documentation professionals and Santosh Khadka, chair of Ward 4 of Lalitpur Metropolitan City, whom the commission accuses of involvement in the bribe dealing. The commission says its team took some of them into custody after the money had been handed over. It alleges that, although the Lalitpur survey office had sent the land administration office updated plot records after a re-survey, the staff did not update the records, hid the new details and had the deed passed on the old details instead.

Also on Monday, the CIAA filed a charge sheet at the Special Court in Kathmandu against Yadunath Acharya, described by Gorkhapatra as a deputy subba at the Land Revenue Office in Bhaktapur, accusing him of corruption by acquiring illegal property and of money laundering. Gorkhapatra quoted commission spokesperson Suresh Neupane. According to the commission, as reported by Onlinekhabar and Ratopati, the lawful income of Acharya and his household over the period examined was about Rs 62.6 million, while his spending and investments came to about Rs 159.8 million; it puts the illegally acquired property at Rs 97,271,989 (about Rs 97.27 million). It also claims a separate Rs 91.98 million under the money-laundering law.

The commission also named Acharya's wife, Lalita Rajbhandari, as a defendant. His daughters, Nilu and Saru Acharya, are listed as defendants too; Onlinekhabar reported that they were named only so that property could be forfeited. The commission also filed a case against Prabha Basnet and Kumari Katuwal, seeking Rs 3,886,182 (about Rs 3.89 million) from them; Onlinekhabar reported that they are accused of helping handle proceeds of the offence.

These are the commission's allegations and have yet to be tested in court.