KATHMANDU, Dec 9 (Reuters) – An anti-graft panel in Nepal has charged 55 officials, including five former ministers and a Chinese contracting company, with corruption in the construction of a Chinese-funded airport in west Nepal, officials said on Tuesday.
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed the case at the anti-corruption Special Court on Sunday, charging the officials and the Chinese firm with illegally inflating the cost of building the Pokhara International Airport by more than $74 million.
Yagya Raj Regmi, assistant spokesperson of the Special Court, said CIAA had demanded the inflated amount of the costs to be repaid as fines by each of the accused, including China CAMC Engineering Co Ltd that constructed the project.
None of the accused could be reached for comment.
“The Special Court will now send notices to each of those charged in the case and begin hearing only after receiving statements from them. We cannot say now when the court will finish the hearing and give judgement,” Regmi told Reuters.
ACCUSED INFLATED CONSTRUCTION COSTS BY OVER 40%
A statement from the CIAA said the accused had inflated the cost of the project to $244 million, from an estimate of $170 million. A final payment was made using a $216-million loan from China Exim Bank, it said.
The Pokhara airport was inaugurated in 2023 but no international airlines have shown interest in operating scheduled flights to or from it.
Corruption is rampant in Nepal, which is situated between China and India.
In September, at least 76 people were killed in youth-led anti-graft protests, which forced Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli to resign. He was succeeded by former Chief Justice Sushila Karki, who is tasked to hold parliamentary elections on March 5, 2026.
The tourist town of Pokhara, Nepal’s second-biggest city, is the gateway to the world’s 10th-highest mountain, Annapurna.
(Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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