The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a corruption case at the Special Court on Tuesday against former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, Nepali Congress leader and former minister Minendra Rijal, and 95 others over the alleged transfer of public land into private ownership through a Cabinet decision. The commission has claimed Rs 735 million in the case, which concerns the registration of the land as omitted land.

What the case concerns

The CIAA’s case centres on a decision to register public land as omitted land, a step that allegedly enabled its transfer into private ownership. The commission has brought the allegation against 97 people in total: Nepal, Rijal and 95 other individuals. The case puts the Cabinet decision and the land registration at the centre of the dispute before the Special Court.

According to the case summary, the authority is seeking Rs 735 million. That amount is the claim made by the CIAA in the case; filing the case does not, by itself, establish that the accused are liable. The allegations will be considered through the court process.

Former prime minister and former minister among accused

Nepal, who served as prime minister, is the most prominent person named in the case. Rijal, a Nepali Congress leader and former minister, is also among those accused. The other 95 people bring the total number of defendants to 97.

The case places a decision made at Cabinet level under scrutiny, alongside the subsequent registration of the land. The CIAA’s allegation, as described in the filing, is that public land was moved into private ownership by registering it as omitted land. The commission has not, in the information provided about the case, set out further details about the individual roles attributed to each of the 97 accused.

Case now before the Special Court

By filing the case at the Special Court, the CIAA has brought its allegations into the judicial process. The Rs 735 million claim is part of the case presented by the authority. The accused have not been convicted by the filing itself, and the allegations remain subject to consideration by the court.

The case is among the corruption proceedings involving a former prime minister and a large group of defendants. Its central issue is whether the public land was improperly registered as omitted land and transferred into private ownership through the Cabinet decision cited by the CIAA. The court will consider the case and the claims put forward by the commission.

The filing was reported by Onlinekhabar, Khabarhub and Ratopati. The case summary states the CIAA has claimed Rs 735 million.