CIAA files graft cases against 36 PAF officials

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority today filed a corruption case at the Special Court against 36 former officials of the Poverty Alleviation Fund accusing them of pocketing Rs 43.49 million in three years. The anti-graft body has filed cases against the PAF finance and administration chief, 31 portfolio managers, three account officers, an environmental officer, and an account assistant. The CIAA said the officials worked in cahoots and embezzled Rs 43.49 million from state coffers in three years producing fake bills and documents while settling accounts of advances to claim sums from the Fund. CIAA has sought action as per the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2002.The accused are: Dipa Regmi, Jharendra Bahadur Singh, Nirak Bahadur Sunar, Rabindra Kumar Suwal, Ramesh Lama, Om Prasad Poudel, Mina Nakarmi, Mahesh Kumar Shahi, Bikram Karki, Lokendra Singh Badal, Padam Singh Thagunna, Pramod Kumar Joshi, Bhupananda BK, Kamal Bahadur Thing, Malati Chaudhary, Sajada Khatun, Nabin Kumar Pokhrel, Ram Bahadur Bhusal, Amar Kumar Pakhrin, Prabin Manandhar, Bal Krishna Biswokarma, Krishna Bahadur Serala, Tara Prasad Joshi, Iswori Lal BK, Manoj Kumar Gupta, Pradip Poudel, Arun Pande, Achyut Man Singh Pradhan, Nirmal Panta, Sumita Malla, Avishekh Neupane, Manoj Chipalu, Prabin Ghimire, Dilip Raj Joshi, Satish Kumar Chaudhary and, Raj Babu Shrestha. A version of this article appears in print on April 18, 2016 of The Himalayan Times.