. LAUDA AIR SCAM: All ten accused walk free Kantipur Report KATHMANDU, Aug 13 - The Special Court Monday issued clean chits to all ten accused including former Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Tarini Dutt Chataut in the nearly seven-year-old controversial Lauda Air lease deal. A Special Court bench comprising chairman Bhoopdhoj Adhikary, and members Komal Nath Sharma and Cholendra SJB Rana acquitted all the ten accused, citing lack of evidence. In its verdict, the court has noted that “the (former Royal) Nepal Airlines Corporation has the right to take planes on lease and that there is no proper procedure” on acquiring aircraft on lease. The then RNAC Executive Chairman Hari Bhakta Shrestha and Board members Tirthalal Shrestha, Gaurinath Sharma, Siddharaj Joshi, executives U P Upadhyaya and Pushkar Wagle, and the executives of Vienna-based airlines Andrea Molineri and Otmar Lenz are the others acquitted by the court in one of the most infamous aircraft lease scams. On May 24, 2001, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had moved the Special Court, accusing the ten persons of embezzling Rs 389 million in the 18-month lease deal. The CIAA had also admonished the then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala in connection with the case. http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?nid=119008