Kathmandu, September 18, 2026 — The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed 175 corruption cases at the Special Court against 990 people during fiscal year 2025/26, seeking recovery of Rs 25.23 billion in alleged losses.
The details are contained in the commission’s annual report for fiscal year 2025/26, which was submitted to President Ramchandra Paudel on Thursday.
The cases included 56 related to damage to public property, 41 involving bribery, 27 concerning the unlawful use of public office for personal gain and 11 related to illicit wealth. Although the CIAA has the authority to investigate money laundering connected to corruption, it filed five such cases during the year.
The commission received 33,500 complaints during the fiscal year. With around 7,000 complaints carried forward from the previous year, it had approximately 40,000 complaints to deal with.
Local governments accounted for the largest number, with 20,025 complaints alleging corruption. Another 15,512 complaints concerned the federal government.
According to the report, complaints that lacked evidence were set aside. Of the 24,000 complaints received at the CIAA headquarters, around 20,000 were disposed of.
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Among federal ministries, more than 3,000 complaints were related to the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration. Agencies under the Ministry of Education and Sports faced 1,983 complaints, while those under the Home Ministry faced 1,757.
The Special Court delivered decisions in 156 cases filed by the CIAA during the year. Offences were established in 81 of those cases, with defendants either convicted or released on bail.
The commission has faced questions when cases filed by it fail to result in convictions at the court. Its spokesperson, Neupane, said the CIAA had appealed decisions of the Special Court to the Supreme Court and would increase the use of technology in its investigations.
The annual report comes after the CIAA was among the institutions attacked during the protests on September 9 last year. The commission’s headquarters in Kathmandu, along with its offices in Itahari, Pokhara and Hetauda, were set on fire.
Its forensic laboratories and 73 vehicles were destroyed. No investigation established who directed the people who entered the commission’s forensic laboratory and burned equipment and case files.
Despite the damage, the CIAA continued its investigations and took several major cases to court.
Among the major cases filed during the year, the CIAA charged seven people, including former Civil Aviation Authority director general Pradip Adhikari, over alleged corruption of Rs 130 million in the construction of the Nalanchok heliport in Bhaktapur. Adhikari is in custody pending trial.
The commission also filed a case alleging Rs 8 billion in corruption in the construction of Pokhara Regional International Airport. Five former ministers and 10 former secretaries were charged in the case, which remains before the court.
The case alleges wrongdoing dating back to the awarding of the construction contract to a Chinese company. Former ministers Ram Sharan Mahat, Bhim Acharya, Ram Kumar Shrestha, Deepak Chandra Acharya and the late Post Bahadur Bogati were named as defendants along with Adhikari.
The article also reports allegations that advisers and personal staff in Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s secretariat pressured the CIAA.
In a dispute involving a passport printing contract, the secretariat was accused of pressing the commission to prosecute former Department of Passports Director General Tirtha Raj Aryal and 17 others. Aryal was arrested and charged, but he and the other accused have since been released on bail.
Some CIAA employees have said pressure from the Prime Minister’s Office has hampered investigations, including scrutiny of current office holders. One joint secretary said staff had faced demands to act against named individuals before sufficient evidence had been gathered. According to him, such interference had weakened morale at the constitutional body.
He referred to cases filed against former prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and individuals implicated in the Pokhara airport and widebody aircraft purchase investigations. He also said the commission had charged more than 100 provincial lawmakers, ministers and local government officials.
The CIAA has also said proceeds from major corruption cases are often transferred outside Nepal.
Chief Commissioner Prem Kumar Rai told a parliamentary committee that Nepal needs laws and international cooperation to recover such funds and confiscate assets held abroad.
In its widebody aircraft purchase case, the commission alleged corruption of Rs 1.47 billion. It has said it could not recover the suspected bribe money because the transactions took place in Singapore and Dubai.
Investigations into Sunil Poudel and Bikal Poudel, who were convicted in a telecommunications corruption case, also found that money had been moved to Singapore and the United States.
Addressing the House of Representatives’ State Affairs and Good Governance Committee on Bhadra 4, Rai called for laws that would allow investigators to examine corruption carried out under the cover of “policy decisions”.
He said the CIAA had charged former prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal in the Patanjali land case based on a decision made in his personal capacity. Rai argued that Cabinet decisions made with improper intent are often treated as policy decisions and placed beyond investigation.