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CIAA Files Fourth Corruption Case in Pokhara Airport Project, 14 Officials Charged
By Ranjeet Yadav • 5/7/2026, 12:50:59 PM
Reading time: 3 min
7 May Pokhara Nepal’s anti-corruption body, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), has filed its fourth corruption case over the construction of Pokhara International Airport, charging 14 people including former senior ministers, secretaries and aviation officials.
A case was filed at the Special Court on Thursday concerning alleged irregularities in the grant of tax exemptions during the airport project.
⚖️ Former Ministers and Senior Officials Cited
Those charged include:
- Ex-Finance Minister Gyanendra Bahadur Karki
- Ex-finance secretary Shankar Adhikari
- Ex-secretaries Kewal Bhandari, Maheshwar Neupane, Suresh Acharya
- Secretary Danduraj Ghimire
- Ex-civil aviation authority chiefs Pradeep Adhikari and Sanjeev Gautam
Officials linked to Chinese contractor China CAMC Engineering Co Ltd have also been named in the case.
The CIAA said the accused were involved in approving tax exemptions for the contractor in ways that allegedly violated the original agreement signed during airport construction.
💰 Rs 3.62 Billion Reported Loss
The state financial loss due to the alleged irregularities is around Rs 3.62 billion, the anti-graft body says.
“During the implementation phase of the airport project, significant financial benefits were illegally granted due to erroneous decisions and violations of established procedures,” the investigators say.
🏗️ Pokhara Airport Case: Fourth Case registered
This is the fourth separate corruption case linked to Pokhara International Airport, one of the largest infrastructure projects in Nepal funded with Chinese support.
Earlier studies have included:
-- Misappropriation of Rs 461.5 million in a corruption case
- Another big case involving 55 people including former ministers and senior bureaucrats in which the CIAA sought recovery of over Rs 8.36 billion
The project has become one of Nepal’s most controversial infrastructure projects with repeated allegations of:
- Inflation of costs
- Irregularities in procurement
- Abuse of power
- Poor handling of funds
🌍 Pokhara Airport Continues to Come Under Scrutiny
Pokhara International Airport was officially opened in January 2023, and was touted to be a key national pride project aimed at boosting tourism and international connectivity.
But the airport has struggled to attract regular international flights and corruption investigations into its construction continue to widen.
The repetitive cases have raised bigger concerns experts say:
- Transparency of big infrastructure projects
- The control of developments paid for from abroad
- Responsibility of senior state officials
📈 Growing focus on anti-corruption
The CIAA has stepped up investigations into high profile corruption cases involving major public projects and powerful political figures.
Analysts say the Pokhara airport investigation is one of the biggest corruption probes in Nepal’s modern history because:
- The scale of claimed financial damage
- The number of senior officials involved
- The international dimension linked to foreign contractors
📌 Abstract
The fourth corruption case has been filed in the Pokhara International Airport project, another major development in the ongoing anti-corruption efforts in Nepal.
The case is likely to remain under intense scrutiny from the public and the political establishment as investigations continue, with wider implications for governance, accountability for infrastructure and public trust in state institutions.
Tags: Pokhara Airport Corruption, CIAA Nepal, Nepal Corruption Case, Pokhara International Airport
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