Kathmandu, June 21: The Special Court has found Mohan Bahadur Basnet, Mayor of Nagarjun Municipality, guilty of corruption following a case filed by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) in December last year.

A joint bench of Judges Teknarayan Kunwar and Rambahadur Thapa delivered the verdict, convicting Basnet of accepting bribes and amassing illegal wealth. The case centered around allegations that Rajup Prasad Kandel, the chairman of Padma Colony, paid Basnet Rs 92.25 million in exchange for facilitating land ownership in the company’s name. The court affirmed that Basnet indeed received the bribe.

Additionally, Basnet was convicted of laundering Rs 131.27 million in illicit assets, further deepening the charges against him.

However, the court acquitted his wife, Urmila Basnet, citing lack of evidence linking her to the corruption or money laundering allegations. Kandel, too, was cleared of asset laundering charges but was found guilty of offering a bribe.

The sentencing hearing for Basnet and Kandel is scheduled for July 1.