Ex-IGPs Om Bikram Rana (left) and Hem Bahadur GurungTwo ex-Nepal Police Chiefs convicted in the so-called Rs 280 million ‘Sudan Scam’ involving the purchase of Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) for United Nations Peacekeeping surrendered to the Supreme Court and were subsequently sent to jail on Wednesday.
Ex-IGPs Om Bikram Rana and Hem Bahadur Gurung as well as two ex-DIGs, Dipak Singh Thangden and Deep Shrestha surrendered to the court and were sent to Dili Bazar Prison.
In April, a joint bench of Chief Justice Sushila Karki and Justice Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha had found three ex-police chiefs guilty in the alleged embezzlement case. While Rana was slapped with a two-year jail term and a fine of Rs 50,000, Gurung was given a one-year jail term and a fine of Rs 40,000
Ramesh Chanda Thakuri, another ex-IGP to be convicted in the corruption case, was sentenced to one year in jail apart from a fine of Rs 40,000. Thakuri is still absconding. Two other senior retired officers -- ex-AIG Shyam Singh Thapa and ex-SSP Ravi Pratap Rana -- were
also convicted but have not yet turned themselves in.
With closure of this long-running scandal seemingly near, Nepali Times presents below a blow-by-blow account of the biggest scandal ever to hit Nepal Police.
2006: Nepal Police calls for a tender to supply Armoured Police Carrier (APC), combat fatigues, generators and other logistical equipment for its force deployed in Sudan on UN Peacekeeping. Shambhu Bharati, a representative of the London-based Assured Risks Pvt Ltd, wins the bid and supplies APC and other logistical equipment to the war-torn African country. The UN finds the APC and other equipment supplied by Bharati 'substandard' and 'outdated', and asks Nepal Police to not clear the payment. But Rana releases the first cache of payment.
2008: Hem Bahadur Gurung, who became new IGP after Rana's retirement, releases the second installment, ignoring the report submitted by a police panel that visited Sudan and corroborated the UN's claims. Nepal Police releases more than Rs 450 million to Bharati
from its welfare fund.
7 June 2011: The CIAA files corruption charges against 34 retired and serving police officers at the Special Court, including servicing IG Ramesh Chand Thakuri and two ex-IGs Om Bikram Rana and Hem Bahadur Gurung.
13 February 2012: The Special Court seeks bail from Bharati, who fails to deposit money and is sent to Dilli Bazar jail. The court concludes that three ex-IGPs and other officers worked hand in glove with Bharati and inflicted a loss of more than Rs 280 million on the welfare fund, where levies from police who serve in the UN mission are deposited.
30 April 2017: A joint bench of Chief Justice Sushila Karki and Justice Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha finds three ex-IGPs and four other retired officers guilty in the scam. Hardly an hour later, Karki is suspended as the ruling party MPs register an impeachment motion against her, reportedly to stop her from delivering her verdict on other high-profile corruption cases.