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Kathmandu Thursday June 14, 2001 Jestha 32, 2058.
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RNAC bosses sent to judicial custody
By Pramod Poudel
KATHMANDU, June 13 - Former RNAC chairman Hari Bhakta
Shrestha, Board member Tirtha Lal Shrestha and four others were taken to Nakkhu Jail after
they failed to deposit the bail as demanded by the judges of the Patan Appellate Court.
Passing the judgement, the division bench judges Buddhikant
Mainali and Bhoop Dhoj Adhikari demanded a bail of Rs 40 million from former chairman
Shrestha and Rs 35 million from the Board member Shrestha, while other board members
Siddha Raj Joshi and Gauri Nath Sharma were asked for Rs 2.5 million as bail and Finance
Department’s Upendra Prasad Upadhyaya and Corporate Department’s Pushkar Wagle
were asked for a bail of Rs 1.3 million.
After hearing the court’s decision, the Shrestha duo and
Joshi said that the court’s such decision was "very unexpected" and
declared that they could in no way furnish the asked bail amount.
But the other three who were ready to deposit the bail also
could not do so even as the court remained open until 7:30 p.m. in the evening. The trio
are likely to submit the bail amount on Friday.
The court had passed the judgement in accordance with the
clause 27 (4) of the Corruption Control Act-2017 BS (Nepali Calender) considering the
defendants’ accountability and responsibility to their post, and on the basis of the
evidences received so far.
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority
(CIAA) had filed a case on May 25 against 10 people that included a former minister and
two Lauda Air executives. Of the ten, only six were produced before the court. Ex-minister
for Civil Aviation Tarini Datt Chataut and R R Upadhyaya, the then RNAC marketing
director, remain absconding since the CIAA had charge-sheeted them. Now the court has
summoned them, giving them a period of one month.
Two Lauda Air executives Andrea Molineri and Omar Lenz, who
were also charge-sheeted in the case have been summoned through the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.
The CIAA had charge-sheeted the accused contending that the
decision to lease the Lauda Air jet was arrived at with malafide intentions which has
caused the national carrier a direct loss of over Rs 389 million. The CIAA had asked the
court to recover the loss from the accused as penalty.
Earlier the defense lawyers had asserted that the CIAA should
have first charge-sheeted the Cabinet as the inherent "Condition Precedent" in
the agreement paper clearly required the approval from both the concerned government
authorities. They had argued that the government had approved the foreign exchange for the
lease of the Lauda jet. They had argued that it is not within CIAA’s jurisdiction to
examine whether RNAC was in need of the fourth plane and that it had no jurisdiction on
RNAC’s policy level decisions. The defense lawyers had even argued that there existed
no clear policy regarding the leasing of the jet.
Earlier, government lawyers Dinesh Hari Adhikari, Surya
Koirala (a CIAA official as well), Dron Raj Regmi and Narayan Poudel representing the CIAA
had argued that the agreement with the Lauda Air was very insecure as there was no
approval of the concerned governments as required in the agreement.
"The Commission’s directives have barred leasing of
aircraft without the tender process and that RNAC leasing the Lauda jet through direct
negotiations was illegal," the CIAA’s lawyers had argued.
They also asserted that negotiation with the Lauda Air for
the fourth jet was not necessary after the renewal of the lease agreement with China South
West Airlines (CSWA). The lawyers reiterated that RNAC’s Board had only demanded
foreign currency for the jet lease and not approval for the agreement from the Cabinet.
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