http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=119706 BY Kiran Chapagain KATHMANDU, Aug 20 - A Supreme Court panel has found 11 court officials guilty in the infamous 'CD scandal' and has recommended punishment against them for eroding public faith in the judiciary. Partly exposed by the Post and partly by Himal Khabarpatrika in March this year, the CD scandal is about a recorded conversation between the accused court staff and one Rajesh Shakya, a court client. Some court staff were heard bargaining for bribe with Shakya in the conversation recorded in the compact disk (CD). Interestingly, the panel has suggested punishment for Shakya, who recorded the CD and lodged a complaint against officials to the Chief Justice. According to the panel's report, Shakya has been banned from entering court premises in Nepal. Similarly, the panel has also recommended action against the Chief Justice's former personal assistant Shree Krishna Bhattarai for "violating code of conduct". Those court staffs found guilty included Babu Ram Dahal, Lal Prasad Aryal, Narayan Prasad Bhattarai, Ram Singh Maharjan, Baikuntha Prasad Upadhyay, Tulasi Ram Paudel, Dhan Bahadur Rokaya, Rajendra Wagle, Narayan Bahadur Karki and Giri Raj Sapkota. The officials have been accused of breaching professional conduct and prestige by talking to a client over the phone time and again, talking about financial transaction and establishing illegal relations with a party of a case. The punishment against the accused ranges from denial of promotion for up to five years, depriving them of major responsibility to simple warning. As the scandal, first of its kind, dragged the judiciary into deep controversy, the Full Court, the apex policy making body of the judiciary, had formed a three-member panel led by Justice Tap Bahadur Magar to probe the scandal and suggest ways to promote public faith in the judiciary. The panel submitted its report to the Full Court and was approved on Sunday. In the recorded conversation, the accused court staffs were heard pronouncing the names of some justices, including the chief justice. "The conversation has not affected the judgment [in Rajesh's case]. Instead, the report has accused the court staff of selling the name of the Chief Justice and judges by taking the names of judges in the conversation. In the meantime, the main accused Dahal, questioned the impartiality of the report. "It has been prepared to save somebody," he said. Posted on: 2007-08-19 20:49:45 (Server Time)