The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Tuesday filed a corruption case at the Special Court against former director general of Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) Bishow Raj Pandey and other two DoFE staffers.

Section officer Kriti  Ballav Poudel and non-gazetted first class officer Khadga Bahadur KC are DoFE staffers facing corruption charge at the Special Court. They have been charged with taking bribe from recruiting agency.

On November 15, the anti-corruption watchdog took Pandey into custody after Poudel and KC revealed to the investigating officers about Pandey’s alleged involvement in seeking bribe from SRS Overseas Services Pvt Ltd. A day earlier, the CIAA had arrested Poudel and KC red-handed while taking bribe of Rs 1 million.

The DoFE had blacklisted SRS Overseas Services last year for allegedly cheating migrant workers and suspended its operation licence while also freezing its bank account. But the Supreme Court had ruled in favour of the recruiting agency, asking the DoFE to let it resume its operations. Despite the court ruling, the DoFE would not let the company conduct its daily operations on various pretexts. The CIAA has sought a fine of Rs1 million along with confiscation of graft amount as per Clause 3 (1) and two-year imprisonment as per Clause 3 (1E) of the Corruption Control Act 2002.