Kathmandu: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has lodged a case in the Special Court against nine individuals, including a sitting secretary and the managing director of Nepal Telecom (NTC), on charges of corruption related to the procurement of the national payment gateway.

The case includes allegations against the former secretary of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Sanjaya Sharma, and the former chairperson of the National Information Technology Centre, among others. The national payment gateway, purchased six years ago, has yet to be utilized. The CIAA asserts that the acquisition resulted in the illegal and improper use of government property, with the gateway procured at an exorbitant cost of Rs 250 million without the requisite infrastructure.

The defendants named in the case are the former executive director of the National Information Technology Centre, Pranita Upadhyay; the current managing director of Nepal Telecom, Sunil Paudel; Nepal Telecom deputy director, Safal Shrestha; the former secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Supplies, Madhu Kumar Marasini; the former assistant director of the Centre, Ramesh Prasad Pokharel; account officers Nim Bahadur Oli and Ram Bahadur Budha; and computer engineer Ram Sharan Gayak.

CIAA is seeking the recovery of over Rs 232 million from the former secretary Sharma, NTC managing director Paudel, account officer Budha, former assistant director of the Centre Pokharel, and secretary Marasini. Additionally, it aims to recover over Rs 1.7 million from NTC's deputy director Shrestha and more than Rs 8.9 million from account officer Oli. The case highlights alleged financial irregularities and misuse of public funds in the procurement process.