A full bench of the court led by Chairman Gauri Bahadur Karki and members Om Prakash Mishra and Kedar Chalise demanded Rs 13 million from former AIG Shyam Thapa, Rs 6 million from SSP Shiva Lamichhane and Rs 2.5 million in bail from SP Niraj Bahadur Shahi after preliminary hearings.[break]
The court said that Thapa in his capacity as the chair of the board of directors of Police Welfare Fund was directly involved in the purchase of Armed Personnel Carriers (APCs) meant for police personnel serving UN Mission in Haiti. He has also been found involved in repeated correspondence to amend the Letter of Credit (LC) in the course of purchasing APCs, according to the court.
Likewise, another accused, Lamichhane is charged for involvement in the payment of the fifth, sixth and last installments of the LC in his capacity as the member secretary of the welfare fund. Likewise, court concluded that SP Shahi too can not be considered innocent as he has been found to have written a letter of thanks to Police Headquarters.
Three more accused in the Sudan APC scam--SSP Bijaya Lal Kayastha, SP Pitambar Adhikari and Inspector Arjun Prasad Timalsina--also appeared before the court on Sunday. The hearings on Kayastha and Timalsina is over, but the hearings of Adhikari is yet to be conducted. They have been sent to judicial custody and further hearings would be conducted on Monday.
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