CIAA files corruption case against chief secretary Aryal

Anti graft body on Sunday filed a corruption case against sitting chief secretary of the government, Baikuntha Aryal alleging misappropriation of Rs. 386.7 million in security printing. The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed the multi- million rupees corruption case against a company secretary and eleven people including chief secretary Aryal at the Special Court over their alleged involvement in the printing of excise duty stickers, according to CIAA sources.

This is for the first time in the history of Nepal that corruption case has been filed against a sitting chief secretary of the government. With the filing of the corruption case chief secretary Aryal has automatically been suspended from the post.

Aryal was appointed secretary at the Ministry of Information and Communication on August 9, 2021 and later transferred to the Prime Minister’s Office in Math 2023. Before his retirement, he got appointment as the chief secretary of the government on June 15, 2023.

When chief secretary Shanker Das Bairagi resigned from the post to become the national security advisor two days before Aryal’s retirement, Aryal got the appointment as the chief secretary to fill the vacant position.

Then executive director of Security Printing entre, Bikal Paudel, joint secretaries Ritesh Shakya and Tanka Pandey, undersecretary Ganesh Bikram Shahi among others have also been made defendants in the case.

Meanwhile, Ms. Lila Devi Gadtaula has replaced Aryal as the acting chief secretary, according to sources close to the Prime Minister’s Office.