The Special Court on Thursday sentenced former Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare Badri Neupane to nine years and six months in jail and slapped Rs24.3 million fine for corruption.

The joint bench of Special Court Chairman Shrikant Paudel and judges Shaligram Koirala and Balabhadra Bastola slapped Rs12.1 million fine on the suspended lawmaker of the Nepali Congress and former minister Tek Bahadur Gurung.

The court on February 28 had convicted eight persons including Neupane and Gurung in irregularities worth Rs315.21 million while leasing out land to Fun Park, a children’s amusement park at Brikutimandap.

The jail term was determined on Thursday.

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on February 4, 2019, had filed a corruption case against 14 individuals. The anti-graft body in its chargesheet had said that the board of the council headed by erstwhile minister Neupane on July 30, 2012 had decided to lease the land without competitive bidding, causing a loss of Rs315.21 million to the council, the CIAA had said in its chargesheet.

The Fun Park which covers 328,560 square feet of land is owned by the Social Welfare Council, the regulatory body of non-government organisations.

The court, apart from Neupane and Gurung, had convicted Pramod Mehata, the then vice president of the Social Welfare Council, Kunj Bihari Prasad Chaudhary, the then treasurer, Rabindra Kumar Yadav, the then member secretary, Mohan Raj Sharma, Madan Kumar Lal Karn, the then member, and Rabindra Gurung, the chief operator of Fun Park, in the case.

The anti-graft body had sought a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine of Rs 315,217,675 from the guilty individuals as per section 5 (1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act-2002.