Nepal’s anti-graft body on Sunday filed a corruption case at the Special Court against 21 individuals, including two Chinese officials, alleging the misappropriation of Rs461.5 million during the construction of Pokhara International Airport.

This marks the third corruption case linked to the Chinese-funded airport project in Pokhara.

According to the charge sheet filed by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), a provisional sum of $2.8 million allocated under the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract for consultancy services was supposed to be used strictly for that purpose, with any unspent amount deducted from the contract price.

However, the defendants allegedly bypassed this provision. Acting with malafide intent, they appointed a consultancy service provider outside the contract’s terms and arranged payments through a separate budget of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).

A contract worth Rs428.93 million was subsequently awarded to ERMC/Anot/Slate JV, of which Rs406.82 million has already been paid in violation of contractual provisions and prevailing laws, the CIAA said.

The charge sheet further states that, based on the recommendation and involvement of the same consultant, an updated Bill of Quantities (BOQ) was prepared in breach of the contract. A BOQ is a detailed, itemised document used in construction projects to list materials, labour, and associated costs.

Under the revised BOQ, the originally allocated $2.8 million for consultancy services was reduced to just $10,000. The remaining $2.79 million was approved for unrelated expenditures not permitted under the contract.

Through this process, an additional Rs372.08 million was disbursed in violation of procurement laws and contract terms, the CIAA said.

In total, the anti-graft body has established a loss and misuse of public funds amounting to Rs461.58 million to the government of Nepal, or CAAN, based on evidence gathered during the investigation.

“These acts constitute corruption offences under Section 17 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2002,” the CIAA stated, adding that it has sought both punishment for the accused and recovery of the embezzled amount.

Among those named as defendants are former tourism secretary Kedar Bahadur Adhikari and former CAAN director generals Pradeep Adhikari, Sanjiv Gautam and Rajan Pokharel.

The CIAA has sought recovery of Rs461.58 million from Kedar Bahadur Adhikari, Pradeep Adhikari and Rajan Pokharel. It has also sought Rs89.5 million each from Sanjiv Gautam and CAAN deputy director generals Mahendra Singh Rawal and Babu Ram Poudel.

Similarly, Rs67.39 million is to be recovered from Yamuna Devi Shrestha, wife of the late Dhruba Das Bhochhibhoya, a former CAAN director.

The anti-graft body has also demanded Rs461.58 million from CAAN officials, including deputy director Pravin Neupane, manager Chandmala Shrestha, and former Pokhara airport project chief Binesh Munankarmi, along with Him Jyoti Thapa and Raja Ram Chaudhary.

In addition, Rs89.5 million each has been sought from Narendra Raj Sainju, Pramod Nepal and Sabin Phuyal.

The CIAA has also named the consulting service provider ERMC/Anot/Slate JV and its officials—Yam Bahadur Bhandari, Uddav Raj Chaulagain, Sobendra Raj Joshi and Pramod Dawadi—seeking Rs461.58 million in recovery from them.

The contractor, China CAMC Engineering Co Ltd, along with its chairman Wang Bo and project manager Yang Zhigang, has also been implicated, with the CIAA seeking Rs461.58 million from them.

On December 7 last year, the CIAA had filed a separate corruption case at the Special Court against 55 individuals, including five former ministers and 10 former secretaries, along with a company, over alleged irregularities in the $215.96 million airport project.

That case is the largest corruption case filed at the Special Court in terms of financial magnitude under a state procurement process, with the CIAA seeking Rs8.36 billion in recovery from each of the 56 defendants. Proceedings in that case are ongoing.

A week after the first case, the CIAA filed another case against Binesh Munankarmi, accusing him of amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. Munankarmi had previously led the Pokhara International Airport project.

The CIAA has also alleged that the project’s contractor, China CAMC Engineering Co Ltd, acted with malafide intent from the outset to influence and secure the project, which was financed by China.