The Special Court on Tuesday sentenced former minister for economic affairs of Madhesh Province Bijaya Kumar Yadav to nine years and one month in jail for corruption.

The bench of Special Court chair Tek Narayan Kunwar and members Tej Narayan Singh Rai and Murari Babu Shrestha announced the jail term and also slapped Rs35.9 million fine.

The bench also ordered the recovery of Rs23.5 million from Yadav for corruption in the snake breeding programme of the Jhala Nath Khanal Academy of Health Sciences.

Academy chair Rewati Prasad Pant, general secretary Nawaraj Bhandari, treasurer Niraj Bhandari, and member Devendra Raya have been sentenced to eight years in jail and fines.

The court had convicted them on June 25, and a hearing was scheduled for today to detrimine the punishment.

The then mayor of Lalbandi Municipality Man Bahadur Khadka and the then economic affairs secretary of the Madhesh government Prem Kumar Shrestha were acquitted of corruption.

On October 8 last year, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority filed a Rs170.9 million corruption case against seven individuals, including the then minister. They were accused of embezzling government funds by diverting them from their original purpose.