Former NT Managing Director Paudel gets nine years jail in National Payment Gateway case

KATHMANDU: The Special Court on Tuesday sentenced the then Managing Director of Nepal Telecom Sunil Paudel to nine years in jail and slapped a fine of Rs 232.7 million after convicting him on a corruption charge in the procurement of National Payment Gateway.

Chairman of Special Court Tek Narayan Kunwar and its Member Murari Babu Shrestha handed down the verdict in the order issued on April 19.

After the court’s verdict, Sunil Paudel was sent to the Dillibazar Prison.

The government’s secretary Madhu Kumar Marasani and seven others, however, were acquitted in the case.

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had lodged the case at the Special Court some six months ago claiming that a huge amount of the state money was misused while procuring the national payment gateway six years ago by preparing an unusual estimate.

The others getting a clean chit from the Special Court include the then Secretary of Ministry of Science and Technology, and Chairman of National Information Technology Centre Sanjay Sharma, the then Executive Director of National Information Technology Centre Pranita Upadhyay and the then Director of Centre Saphal Shrestha.