The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a corruption case at the Special Court against former Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara, joint secretary Arun Pokharel and others, accusing them of facilitating the smuggling of gold concealed in electronic cigarettes.

The anti-graft body has named Mahara, Pokharel and Mahara’s son Rahul, among the defendants, claiming losses of around Rs70 million. The case alleges that they colluded with a Chinese smuggling network to illegally import gold concealed inside vape devices.

According to the charge sheet, the accused played a role in clearing the contraband brought into Nepal in December 2022 by a Chinese group using e-cigarettes as cover.

What is the case?

The case stems from an incident on December 25, 2022, when a smuggling network attempted to bring gold hidden inside vape devices from Dubai.

Investigations found that smugglers concealed gold inside 730 vape units packed in 73 boxes and transported them via Tribhuvan International Airport to a customs warehouse. The gold weighed around nine kilograms, but much of it later went missing.

A Chinese national, identified as Li Hansong, arrived in Kathmandu on Flydubai flight FZ 0587 carrying two suitcases containing the concealed gold. He had planned to hand over the consignment to alleged kingpin Daojin Wang, who was suspected to have links with Mahara.

Customs officials grew suspicious and seized the cargo the same day. Hansong fled shortly afterwards.

Investigators say Daojin then mobilised Mahara and his son to secure the release of the seized goods. Phone records show that Mahara and his son contacted customs officials, intermediaries and members of the smuggling network 256 times.

Three days after the seizure, on December 28, Mahara and his son allegedly pressured customs officials through repeated calls to release the goods, even before it was publicly known that the vapes contained gold.

The seized items were stored in a sealed warehouse. However, in collusion with customs staff and middlemen, the original vapes containing gold were allegedly swapped with ordinary devices and whisked away.

The scheme unravelled after a security guard deployed at the warehouse took one of the devices home. Upon opening it, he discovered gold inside, and exposed the operation.

Following this, the airport customs office requested the Central Investigation Bureau to probe the theft on May 9, 2023. Several individuals, including customs officer Revant Khadka, were arrested.

Khadka later told investigators that they had removed the gold-filled devices from the warehouse and replaced them with ordinary vapes. After a two-month investigation, police recovered only about 100 grams of gold, confirming that nearly nine kilograms had been spirited away.

The District Government Attorney’s Office had earlier filed a smuggling case at the Kathmandu District Court on July 13, 2023, but Mahara, his son and Pokharel were not named as defendants at the time.

Investigators later found that the gold belonged to an Indian national from Maharashtra state, identified as Nandukumar Randuram Margale. He had allegedly set up a workshop in New Road to test and process smuggled gold.

Authorities said the plan was to move the gold from China through Nepal to India via Daojin, but the network was exposed after the operation collapsed.

Mahara and his son were later arrested in connection with the case. The CIAA has now charged the former Speaker with abuse of public office and involvement in organised smuggling.

Based on the CIB investigation, Mahara was earlier remanded in custody in a separate smuggling case filed on October 15, 2025. The High Court later ordered his release on bail of Rs2 million on November 27, 2025.

The case remained under investigation until the anti-graft body filed the current corruption charges.

Mahara, a senior Maoist leader active during the decade-long armed conflict, has held key positions after the peace process, including ministerial roles in finance, home and foreign affairs, and later Speaker of the House of Representatives.

His political career has repeatedly been overshadowed by controversy, including a past allegation involving an audio recording linked to attempts to solicit funds from Chinese interests and a rape accusation filed by a parliamentary secretariat staff member during his tenure as Speaker.