Kathmandu: Nepal's anti-corruption watchdog, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), filed a corruption case at the Special Court on Tuesday, November 3, against former prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, former minister Minendra Prasad Rijal and 95 others over the exchange and sale of land in Biratnagar, Morang. The CIAA claims the state lost Rs 734.956 million (yaani about Rs 73.5 crore) in the deal and is seeking jail terms, fines, recovery of the amount and confiscation of the land.

Source: ICN News

In all, 97 people have been charged in the case, which centres on land held by Rijal Canning and Company Pvt Ltd. The CIAA is seeking recovery of Rs 73.49 crore from the defendants, alongside imprisonment and fines under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2059. The commission names Madhav Kumar Nepal and Minendra Rijal as the main offenders; the accused also include former land reform minister Dambar Shrestha and former secretary Chhabiraj Pant.

Source: Red Voice Nepal

A plot that lay unused for decades

According to the CIAA's case, the story begins in 1975, when the government allowed Rijal Canning and Company to keep land above the legal ceiling in Morang and Sunsari on the condition that it run a fruit industry. The commission says the company never did so: a Biratnagar plot was left unfenced, and in 1991 the government ordered the land seized and froze it.

The swap came in 2009, while Madhav Kumar Nepal was prime minister. The land ministry sent a proposal to the Cabinet, which passed it to its Social Committee — chaired by Rijal, who approved it. After the approval, the company sold 4 bigha, 5 kattha and 9 dhur of land in Biratnagar for about Rs 8.38 crore, and showed a purchase of land in Morang for Rs 12.85 lakh. Pen of Nepal reported that the Biratnagar plots, which had been granted tax exemptions for industrial purposes, were left unutilised, swapped with lower-value land in Banagama Village Development Committee and then sold.

Source: Pen of Nepal

Eight of the accused have since died, and the CIAA is seeking their share of the claim from their heirs. Another 42 people and organisations currently hold the land; the commission wants it taken back by the state but is not seeking any punishment against those holders.

97people charged by the CIAA in the land-swap case
Rs 73.49 crorerecovery sought; claimed state loss Rs 734.956 million
2009year of the Cabinet committee approval at the centre of the case

This is a separate case from the one filed in June 2025, when the CIAA charged Madhav Kumar Nepal and 92 others over Patanjali Yogpeeth's land purchases in Kavrepalanchok — the first corruption case against a former prime minister in Nepal's history. The charges in the Biratnagar case are allegations set out by the CIAA; the case will now be heard by the Special Court.