Minister Gupta convicted for graft, fined Rs 8.4m
The Supreme Court on Tuesday convicted Minister for Information and Communications Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta of a corruption charge upon finding he had movable and immovable property worth Rs 8.4 million from unknown sources after holding public office in different capacities from 1992 onwards
.
As they found that Gupta´s property did not match his legitimate sources of income, Justices Sushila Karki and Tarkaraj Bhatta slapped one and half years imprisonment and Rs 8.4 million in fine, overturning a verdict of the Special Court that had given him a clean chit in the corruption charge filed by the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA).
The CIAA had filed a case against Gupta, accusing him of earning Rs 20.8 million from unknown sources between 1992 and 2002 when he held public offices ranging from press advisor to then prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala to ministers with different portfolios.
Gupta surrendered in writing before the bench where he was present to hear the verdict, immediately after the justices announced his conviction. The court handed Gupta over to Dillibazaar jail.
But as Gupta was guided to a police truck, he tried to give a political color to the verdict and vowed to launch a struggle against it and continue fighting for the cause of Madhes.
“I do not want to comment on the clauses and sub-clauses of the verdict against me as I want to leave it to lawyers to judge this verdict in the coming days. But I have been penalized for what I did in the past and what I have been doing now for the Madhesi people and to forward the Madhesi cause,” Gupta told journalists at the Supreme Court premises as the police guided him to their truck.
Gupta further said, “This is not punishment for me but for the movement that I have launched.”
He also vowed to further his movement after his release from jail. As he has already served around four months in jail during investigations by the CIAA, he will now be in prison for around 12 months.
“I will not have any meeting with you [journalists] from today onwards as a political activist and leader,” Gupta said, urging other Madhesi leaders to take the verdict as a “crisis to be faced by Madhes in future”.
