Kathmandu, June 30: Former minister and Nepali Congress (NC) lawmaker Mohan Bahadur Basnet was released on bail of Rs 2.5 million following an order from the Special Court on Sunday. Basnet appeared in court for his statement in connection with the corruption charges related to the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA)'s purchase of ‘Teramox’ technology.

A joint bench of Justices Tej Narayan Singh Rai, Ram Bahadur Thapa and Bidur Koirala issued the order on Sunday following Basnet’s statement and a detention hearing.

On May 15, the Commission for Investigation on Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a case at the Special Court against Basnet and 15 others, demanding compensation of Rs 3.21 billion each. After the CIAA filed a corruption case against Basnet, his post as a lawmaker was suspended.

The CIAA claimed that Basnet, during his tenure as Minister for Communications and Information Technology, initiated the procurement process of Teramox in a flawed manner. The procurement also breached his ministerial jurisdiction.

People’s News Monitoring Service.