The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority on Thursday filed a corruption case against suspended UCPN (Maoist) lawmaker Lharkyal Lama in the Special Court, charging him with amassing Rs 94.47 million through illegal means.

The anti-graft body has said during its investigation it found that Lama’s property was worth beyond his legitimate source of income. “While calculating Lama’s income from public positions he held in the past 14 years, his property should not exceed Rs 203 million, but his current property is worth Rs 294 million,” the CIAA said in its chargesheet. “This proves that he has amassed more than Rs 90 million by abusing his authority.”

Lama, who is often seen in maroon and yellow robes, was the chairman of the Monastery Development Committee in 2001.

When he started dabbling in politics and joined the CPN-UML, he was lawmaker in 2008 by the party. He was state minister for finance in the Jhala Nath Khanal government in 2011. He was forced to resign on April 22, 2011 after he ran into controversy for possessing dual citizenships.

He later joined the UCPN (Maoist), which appointed him as lawmaker in February 2015.

But he had a brush with the law again this year.

On March 13, he was arrested by police after 14 bullets were found in his bank locker. But as soon as he was released by the District Administration Office on bail after spending seven days in custody, he was arrested on fraud charges. He was later released on bail March 23 on Rs 3 million bail.

The anti-graft body said it investigated into Lama’s property that he earned between 2001 and 2016 during which he held several public posts, including chairman of the Monastery Development Committee, state minister and lawmaker.