Kathmandu, July 9: The Supreme Court has overturned the Special Court’s ruling in the Rs 6.16 billion corruption case linked to the Tax Settlement Commission (TSC) and ordered a retrial. A division bench of Justices Sharanga Subedi and Tek Prasad Dhungana annulled the earlier verdict citing procedural flaws, sending the case back to the Special Court.

This decision reopens the high-profile corruption case involving former Inland Revenue Department (IRD) Director General Chudamani Sharma, and former TSC Chair Lumbadhoj Mahat and member Umesh Prasad Dhakal. The trio was previously found guilty of misusing authority and causing state losses amounting to Rs 6.16 billion through arbitrary tax waivers, and were each sentenced to nine years in prison and fined the equivalent amount.

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had filed the case on June 23, 2021, alleging that the accused violated provisions of the Tax Settlement Commission Act 1976 and a 2015 Gazette notification by granting tax exemptions without due process. The Special Court had ruled in favor of the CIAA, finding the TSC officials guilty of corruption and ordering restitution of Rs 133.2 million.

Since the verdict two years ago, Sharma and others have been serving their prison terms in Dillibazar. They had appealed to the Supreme Court a year ago, and after several deferrals, the final hearing was held recently. Although the decision for retrial has now been announced, the SC has yet to release the full written verdict, and it remains uncertain whether the accused will be freed or remain in custody until then.

The SC's directive essentially nullifies the previous ruling and reopens legal proceedings on one of Nepal’s largest corruption cases.

People's News Monitoring Service