KATHMANDU, July 1: The Special Court has convicted Mohan Bahadur Basnet, Mayor of Nagarjun Municipality in Kathmandu, in a corruption and money laundering case, sentencing him to eight years and three months in prison and imposing a fine of over Rs 280 million. With the verdict, Basnet has been automatically suspended from his post.
On Monday, a division bench of the Special Court, comprising Chairperson Tek Narayan Kunwar and Member Ram Bahadur Thapa, found that Basnet had accepted a bribe of Rs 92.2 million and sentenced him to eight years in prison for bribery alone.
Since the offense was committed while holding a public office of high responsibility, the court added an additional three months to the prison sentence.
Nagarjun Mayor Mohan Bahadur Basnet found guilty of bribery and...
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 23 million each on Mayor Basnet and Raju Kandel, the director of Padma Housing, who gave the bribe.
Likewise, Padma Colony Pvt. Ltd. and Padma Merchant Company Pvt. Ltd. have been ordered to pay an equal amount in fines. The total bribe amount of Rs 92.2 million will be recovered from all four defendants, the verdict states.
In addition, the court also found Basnet guilty in a separate case of laundering Rs 131.2 million in illicit assets.
For this offense, he was sentenced to three years in prison, which will be merged with the previous eight-year term. However, he has been fined double the laundered amount—Rs 262.5 million—and the laundered assets will be confiscated, according to the ruling.
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority had filed two separate cases of bribery and money laundering against Basnet at the Special Court on December 1.
Basnet was elected Mayor of Nagarjun Municipality representing the Nepali Congress.
