Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress (NC) leader and former minister Mohan Bahadur Basnet has been acquitted in the Teramocs (Telecommunication Traffic Monitoring and Fraud Control System) procurement case.
A joint bench of the Special Court comprising judges Hemanta Rawal, Dilliratna Shrestha and Umesh Koirala cleared Basnet of the charges on Monday.
The verdict states that Basnet, who was serving as Minister for Information and Communications at the time of procurement, was not found to have been involved in any stage of the procurement process beyond issuing policy-level directives.
The court also concluded that the prosecution failed to present objective evidence showing that Basnet had gained any personal benefit from the procurement.
“The prosecution has not been able to provide objective grounds to establish that the defendant derived personal benefit from the procurement process in question. In this situation, there is no basis to conclude that the defendant was involved in the procurement process related to this case. Therefore, the defendant Mohan Bahadur Basnet is acquitted of the charges,” the verdict states.
While acquitting Basnet, the Special Court found other defendants—Digambar Jha, Dhan Raj Gyawali, and Tikaprasad Upreti—guilty. The court sentenced them to six months in prison and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 each.
The court stated that it imposed fines as it could not determine the claim amount.
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had filed the case at the Special Court against 18 individuals, including then minister Basnet, seeking recovery of Rs 3.21 billion on corruption charges related to the procurement.
