Kathmandu. District Court Lalitpur has ordered All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) president Pankajvikram Nemwang and general secretary Kiran Rai to release each other on bail of five lakh rupees.
District Judge Harisinh Dhami’s bench ordered them to be released on bail on Wednesday. After the case was filed, both of them, who were absconding, appeared in the court on Wednesday and gave statements. After the detention debate, the court ordered to release him on bail.
District Public Prosecutor’s Office Lalitpur filed a charge sheet against ANFA President Nemwang, General Secretary Rai, Treasurer Ravindra Joshi and Accounts Officer Sanjeev Pandey in the district court on October 22. The Public Prosecutor’s Office demanded a total of 93 lakh 900 rupees from the defendants to pay damages and compensation.
After investigation, the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police filed a case against the four people under the National Sports Development Act, 2077 for collusion and irregularities in sports and fraud under the Civil Crimes Code, 2074. Earlier, Treasurer Joshi has been released on bail of Rs 15 lakh and Accounts Officer Pandey has been released on bail of Rs 12 lakh.
The charge sheet also covers the matter of shifting the match between Nepal and Bahrain at Dashrath Stadium on March 21, 2024 as part of FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers to Bahrain. It is alleged that the non-international program was allowed to be conducted without protecting the stadium’s ground, and after the ground was unfit for the game, an agreement was made with Bahrain to play the match on the home ground.
Likewise, it has been alleged that the 20,000 US dollars that Bahrain should have provided to ANFA for the sale of match tickets was misappropriated without being deposited in ANFA’s official bank account. It is mentioned in the indictment that the said amount is equal to 2.6 lakh 47 thousand rupees.
There is also an allegation that goods were purchased through quotations without inviting open bids for purchases above 10 lakh rupees, contrary to the financial procedures of ANFA. It is mentioned in the indictment that under the ‘Extra Time Project’ of the Asian Football Federation (AFC), during the purchase of sports equipment worth 50 thousand US dollars i.e. 66 lakh 53 thousand 900 rupees, competition was shown between three companies with the same ownership and the organization was damaged by purchasing goods at a price higher than the approved cost estimate.
The court is yet to make a final decision on the charges.