Apex court finds governor Bhattarai guilty of irregularities

Bijaya Nath Bhattarai (File Photo)

The Supreme Court (SC), Tuesday, decided that governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Bijaya Nath Bhattarai and director Surendra Pradhan are guilty of irregularities.

The single bench of judge Tahir Ali Ansari decided that they are guilty of irregularities worth Rs 3.3 million since they did not initiate steps to obtain compensation from a consulting firm after terminating contract with them in a financial sector reforms programme.

The SC decided that the two should be fined the same amount as penalty.

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had filed a case against the two for committing irregularities worth around Rs 20 million.

Since the CIAA filed the case against them eight months ago, the two had remained suspended.

Last month, the Special Court had delivered a fractured verdict on the case – with each of the three judges giving different opinions regarding their guilt. Consequently, the case had been referred to the apex court. nepalnews.com sd Mar 18 08