Former Nepal Telecom Managing Director (NTC MD) Sunil Paudel who was found guilty by a special court on charges of corruption in the procurement of the National Payment Gateway (NPG) has been sentenced to 9 years in prison on Tuesday, May 07, 2024. A joint bench of special court judge Tek Narayan Kunwar and member Murari Babu Shrestha gave the verdict on Paudel’s case who has also been ordered to pay Rs 46.54 crore in fine. The other 8 figures in the same have been acquitted earlier.
The bench of special court chairman Teknarayan Kunwar and member Murari Babu Shrestha had convicted Paudel on Friday (April 19, 2024). In October 2023, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a case against nine individuals on corruption charges in the NPG purchase. The list included high-profile figures such as the former Ntc MD Sunil Paudel, and the former government secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini. CIAA had suspected embezzlement of Rs 250 million (Rs 25 crore) during the purchase of the National Payment Gateway.
Paudel served as the executive director at the National Information Technology Center (NITC). This is when he is alleged to have been involved in financial irregularity over the purchase of the payment gateway.
CIAA suspected that Paudel and the other 8 proceeded to buy NPG without having the proper infrastructure in place. The total cost for the system was Rs 24 crores, 75 lakhs, and 22 thousand. The deal was finalized on Ashar 19, 2075 with CMA. The company was responsible for buying and installing the system. The system is not operational yet.
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Found guilty, Sunil Paudel gets a 9-year prison term
The special court decided to send Sunil Paudel to prison for 9 years over the NPG corruption charges. Along with Paudel, CIAA filed a case against former government secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini, the then executive directors at NITC, Sanjay Sharma and Pranita Upadhyaya. Also, the then NITC director and current deputy director Safal Shrestha was on the list. Besides, CIAA had filed charges against Ramesh Pokharel, and Nim Bahadur Oli on the same accusations. All of these received clean chits from the special court. Ram Bahadur Budha and Ramsharan Gayak were also on the list.
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New MD appointment process to begin
Mr. Sunil Paudel was suspended from the Ntc MD post after charges in the National Payment Gateway (NPG) procurement. But the Ntc MD post was not vacant until the final verdict. After this verdict, the process for the appointment of a new MD will now begin. It is likely that the current Acting Managing Director Sangita Pahadi (Aryal) will be a full-time incumbent. But that has to come through a formal process of application, evaluation, and appointment. Pahadi rose to her current MD role in October 2023.
In addition to this, Paudel and his brother Anil Paudel, have also been found guilty in the case of illegal wealth acquisition on Baisakh 9, 2081. In this case, the CIAA claims that the sources of income of over Rs 23.75 crore have not been clear.
Ntc appointed Paudel as its MD in April 2022. However, the allegations and controversies mired his short-lived tenure.
