The Special Court has indicted 17 of the 36 officials of the Poverty Alleviation Fund on corruption charges while giving a clean chit to others.

The court has decided punishment ranging from Rs 8,000 to 206,000 and jail term ranging from three months to one year for the 17 individuals.

“The Special Court has indicted 17 officials of the Poverty Alleviation Fund on Thursday,” said Dipendra Nath Yogi, spokesperson for the Special Court.

The court has decided Rs32,500 fine and four months of jail term to Dipa Regmi, Rs40,500 fine and four months of jail to Jharendra Bahadur Singh, Rs8,000 fine and three months of jail to Nirak Bahadur Sunar, Rs21,000 fine and three months of jail to Rabindra Suwal, Rs35,000 fine and four months of jail term to Om Prasad Poudel, Rs56,000 fine and five months of jail term to Bikram Karki, Rs46,500 fine and four months of jail to Lokendra Singh Badal, Rs17,700 fine and three months of jail to Padam Singh Thagunna, Rs48000 fine and four months jail to Pramod Kumar Joshi.

Similarly, the court has decided Rs59,500 fine and five months of jail

to Kamal Bahadur Thing, Rs53,400 fine and five months of jail to Prabin Ghimire, Rs 206,000 fine and one year of jail to Balkrishna Bishworkarma, Rs24,000 fine and three months of jail to Krishna Bahadur Serala, Rs12,000 fine and three months of jail to Ishwori Lal Bishwokarma, Rs10,100 fine and three months of jail to Pradip Poudel and Rs 25,500 fine and three months of jail to Nirmal Panta.

The court has acquitted Executive Director Rajubabu Shrestha, Finance and Administration Head Manoj Chipalu, Account officers Dilip Joshi and Prabin Ghimire, Account assistant Satish Chaudhari and Environment officer Abishesh Neupane, among others.

The decision was taken by a three-judge bench led by Chairperson of the Special Court Shreekanta Poudel. Yamuna Bhattarai and Khushi Prasad Tharu were the members of the bench.

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority had filed a corruption case against 36 officials of the Fund, including Executive Director Shrestha on April 17, 2016, accusing them of misappropriating Rs43.4 million.

The anti-graft body had accused them of misappropriating the amount by forging the bills.