Patanjali land ‘scam': Graft case filed against former Nepal PM Madhav Nepal
Nepal's anti-graft agency Thursday charged former prime minister and CPN-Unified Socialist chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal in a land misappropriation case linked to Patanjali Yogpeeth-Nepal.
The Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed the case against Madhav Kumar Nepal and 93 others for facilitating purchase of land by Patanjali Yogpeeth ostensibly to set up a yoga centre and herbal farming in Kavre district, some 40 km from Kathmandu.
The CIAA filed the case in the special court which tries cases related with corruption and abuse of authority.
Madhav Nepal, a sitting member of parliament, lost his parliamentary position automatically after the filing of the chargesheet.
As per Nepal's law, all public servants charged with corruption are automatically suspended until the case is fully resolved.
Madhav Nepal Thursday denied the corruption allegations against him, saying he has done nothing wrong and is prepared to face the legal process. Madhav Nepal, who served as Nepal prime minister from May 2009 to February 2011, alleged that there was a conspiracy against him by Prime Minister K P Oli, who, he said, 'is out to finish me politically.'
According to the CIAA, a Cabinet meeting, chaired by Madhav Nepal, had waived the land ceiling law and allowed Patanjali to purchase land for a specified purpose and then through another decision two months after, permitted commercial sale of the land.
This, the CIAA said, caused huge loss to the state. The anti-graft body asked Madhav Nepal to pay Rs 586 million against the loss thus caused.
The CIAA named Saligram Singh, one of the founding directors of Patanjali-Nepal, in the chargesheet. However, there is no mention of Patanjali heads Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna in the chargesheet.
The chargesheet also named former Law Minister Prem Bahadur Singh, late Land Reform Minister Dambar Shrestha and former Chief Secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire.
Patanjali Yogpeeth had purchased 32 hectares of land for the yoga center and the Ayurveda research after the Cabinet decision. Patanjali sources, however, said it did not sell any of that land for commercial purposes.
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