Nepalmonitor

Incident Reports

FNCCI chief Pandey arrested in 30-year-old case

2014-03-15

Pradeep Jung Pandey, president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), was arrested from his residence in Baluwatar on Tuesday evening on the charges of evading a 30-year-old jail sentence. A joint task force of Nepal Police and Judgment Execution Directorate of the Supreme Court arrested Pandey, the chief of the directorate, Mahendra Nath Upadhyaya, confirmed. Earlier on Tuesday, the court had quashed its previous interim order that had directed the Kathmandu District Court not to execute the jail term slapped three decades ago on Pandey paving the way for his arrest. On June 30, 1982, the Kathmandu District Court had given Pandey, who was an employee at Nepal Water Supply Corporation, a jail term of three years and slapped a fine of Rs 5,000 after finding him guilty in a corruption case. Pandey had immediately challenged the verdict but the then court to hear an appeal of corruption cases had upheld the verdict of Kathmandu District Court on June 20, 1984. Pandey has yet to serve around 1 year and nine months of the sentence, according to the court. Pandey had been claiming that he received a royal pardon in the case on November 20, 1985. Pandey says his wife had filed a petition at the then Special Complaints Division (Bishesh Jaheri Bibhag) and was exonerated of the corruption case. As Pandey moved the Supreme Court on September 5, 2014, The single bench of Justice Cholendra SJB Rana had issued an interim order stating that sending Pandey to jail without first making sure whether the case was settled through royal pardon may cause him damage. Following the order, Kathmandu District Court had filed a petition on November 8, 2014, at the Supreme Court demanding to quash the interim order. A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Kalyan Shrestha and Justice Om Prakash Mishra on Tuesday quashed the previous order and directed Kathmandu District Court to act in line with the legal provisions. The division bench stated that the interim order would not be continued since Pandey could not produce evidence that he had received a royal pardon in the corruption case against him. After a section of media reported that Pandey has yet to serve jail term as per a 30-year old verdict, He filed a petition at the Kathmandu District Court in 2014 claiming that the sentence against him was already settled. However, Kathmandu District Court had rejected his petition and said he has yet to complete the jail term. Following this, Pandey knocked on the apex court door with a similar claim. Pandey was elected FNCCI president from the 47th general assembly of the organization on March 15, 2014. Since then, he has been accused by his rivals of evading the court sentence.

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