Former Engineer Accused in Money Laundering Case

Kathmandu. The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority has filed a charge sheet in the money laundering case against four people including former engineer of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Rambabu Mahato alias Rambabu Mahato Koiri. The CIAA filed a case at the Special Court Kathmandu on Friday on charges of acquiring and laundering illegal property. Earlier, on Jestha 26, 2082, a case was filed at the Special Court against Mahato for acquiring illegal property with a claim of Rs 45,897,403.88. Investigating the money laundering aspect of the same offense as a related offense, it has been reduced from Rs 1,915,514.86 which was before the issuance of the Act. The CIAA stated that it has been confirmed that a total of Rs 44,879,841.98 has been illegally acquired, transformed, disguised, and transferred, including the remaining Rs 43,981,888.14 and Rs 897,953.84 increased from the offense. Engineer Mahato was found to have laundered property by depositing the proceeds of corruption in banks and cooperatives in the name of his sister-in-law Reena Kushwaha and brother-in-law Krishna Prasad Mehta as third parties, investing in land purchases, making payments at less than the actual value, and showing them as interest income by keeping them in fixed deposits. The CIAA has demanded a penalty of double the claimed amount, imprisonment, confiscation of land, and an additional 10 percent penalty against Mahato, claiming a claim of Rs 44,879,841.98. Similarly, Mahato's wife, Malakumari Mahato, has also been claimed for double the penalty, imprisonment, and confiscation of land with a claim of Rs 44,879,841.98, as she invested in real estate business and concealed the source of income, knowing that her husband had earned illegal property through corruption. According to CIAA spokesperson Suresh Neupane, Malakumari's full sister Reena Kushwaha and her husband Krishna Prasad Mehta have been charged with aiding and abetting the main offender in transforming, transferring, and concealing illegal property, and have demanded half the penalty that the main offender Mahato would receive.