The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a corruption case against former Communications Minister Mohan Bahadur Basnet and several Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) officials, alleging irregularities in the procurement of TERAMOCS technology. The CIAA has claimed a financial loss of NPR 3.21 billion and filed charges against 16 individuals on Thursday.

The accused include former NTA Chairman Digambar Jha, former members Purushottam Khanal, Dhanraj Gnyawali, and Tika Prasad Uprety, as well as NTA directors Vijay Kumar Roy, Surendra Lal Hada, and Dipesh Acharya.

Deputy directors Revati Ram Panth, Suresh Basnet, Hiranya Prasad Bastakoti, Achyutananda Mishra, and Sandeep Adhikari are also named in the case, with the CIAA claiming NPR 3.21 billion in damages.

Additionally, the CIAA has filed charges against vendor company Vanrise Solutions SAL (Offshore), its CEO Jamal Anouti, its local agent Connection Trade Link Pvt. Ltd., and the company’s chairman Dilip Kumar Gurung and director Tej Prasad Kharel.

The CIAA alleges that former Minister Basnet created the groundwork for financial loss to the NTA in the Teramocs procurement. According to the charge sheet, Basnet misused his authority by unilaterally including the Teramocs program - intended for international call monitoring and VoIP control - in the NTA’s 2017/18 annual program, despite it not being proposed by the NTA or included in its budget. This action, the CIAA claims, violated the Nepal Telecom Authority Regulations, 1997, and interfered with the autonomy of the NTA, causing significant financial harm.

Former Minister Basnet, currently a Nepali Congress MP, recently stated in a parliamentary session that the case against him was being filed out of political vengeance. The case marks a significant development in Nepal’s ongoing efforts to address corruption in public procurement processes.