CIAA Charges 10 Rainas Municipality Officials Over Job Fund Misuse

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a corruption charge sheet at the Special Court in Kathmandu against 10 former officials and local representatives of Rainas Municipality in Lamjung, accusing them of embezzling employment funds and misusing public property.

According to reports from Onlinekhabar and Annapurna Post, the anti-graft constitutional body lodged the case on Tuesday over the misappropriation of a conditional grant of Rs 1,672,000 provided by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security during the fiscal year 2019/20 under the Prime Minister Employment Programme (PMEP). Although Lokaantar initially referenced nine defendants in its headline, its text and other outlets including Nagarik News confirmed charges were framed against 10 individuals.

According to the CIAA's charge sheet, on the final day of that fiscal year officials avoided refunding the unspent conditional grant into the federal consolidated fund as required by law. Instead, former municipal employment coordinator Shekhar Nath Neupane withdrew the entire amount as an advance and distributed sums directly into the bank accounts of local elected ward leaders. According to the CIAA, none of the designated employment activities were conducted, no public work took place, and the disbursed advances remained unsettled.

The charge sheet also alleges that Neupane retained municipal property for personal use. Annapurna Post and Nagarik News reported that Neupane had taken custody of a municipal laptop, a printer, and a camera on May 16, 2019, but failed to hand them back over after his dismissal from the post on October 17, 2020. The anti-graft body assessed the value of the missing equipment at Rs 167,256, seeking a total recovery of Rs 1,839,256 from Neupane.

The charge sheet filed by the CIAA also seeks Rs 1,672,000 each from then chief administrative officer Ram Chandra Adhikari and then accountant Nabin Kumar Baral, alongside prison sentences and matching fines, according to Lokaantar.

The remaining defendants, all former local representatives, face claims matching the amounts the CIAA says were transferred into their accounts without work being performed. The CIAA sought Rs 299,662 from former Ward 3 member Oj Raj Poudel, Rs 253,286 from former Ward 7 chair Madhav Prasad Parajuli, and Rs 239,016 from former Ward 6 chair Ruk Bahadur Tamang Gurung. The watchdog also claimed Rs 124,859 from former Ward 4 chair Jaiman Gurung, Rs 121,292 from former Ward 8 chair Krishna Prasad Lamichhane, Rs 89,185 from former Ward 1 chair Ramesh Neupane, and Rs 82,050 from former Ward 5 chair Nanda Bahadur Kumal.

CIAA spokesperson Suresh Neupane, cited by Nagarik News, confirmed that the anti-corruption agency has invoked Section 17 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2002, requesting prison terms, asset recoveries, and equivalent penalties under Section 3(1) of the legislation. The accused have not yet responded in court, and the Special Court will decide the case.