Joshi becomes third former minister to be jailed for corruption

The Special Court on Wednesday sentenced former Home Minister and Nepali Congress leader Govinda Raj Joshi to one-and-half year jail term and penalty of Rs 21.6 million after convicting him of massive corruption while he held several important portfolios in the governments formed by the Nepali Congress in different years.

Govinda Raj Joshi

A division bench of the Special Court led by chairman Gauri Bahadur Karki made the verdict.

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had filed a case against Joshi in the Special Court on January 12, 2004 . The CIAA filed the case at the Supreme Court after the special court gave clean chit to him. The special court again looked into the case after Supreme Court ordered it to reopen the case.

Joshi is also the third former minister of Nepali Congress - after Chiranjivi Wagle and JP Gupta - to be sent to jail after being convicted of massive corruption.

Joshi, a chief whip of the party in the parliament in 1991 was Minister for Education, Culture and Social Welfare (1991–1994), Education Minister (1995–1996), Home Minister (1998), Home and General Administration Minister (2005), Minister for Water Resource (1999), Home Minister again in 2000, Minister for Local Development and later Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (2001).

Former Minister JP Gupta, who is also a Nepali Congress leader, is currently serving an 18 months jail term after the Special Court found him guilty on the disproportionate property accumulation case. He was the first sitting minister to be sent to jail after being convicted of corruption. nepalnews.com