Nepal ex-PM under lap due to alleged corruption over Patanjali-linked land agreement, with a $ 1 million fine | Today news

Nepal authorities have charged former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal with corruption and claimed a million-dollar fine on the purchase of land by a firm owned by Indian yoga Guru Baba Ramdev said an official of the court said on Friday. Nepal, Prime Minister between 2009 and 2011, is facing charges of allowing Patanjali Yogpeeth Nepal Company to buy more land than it was legally allowed to own for herbal production, processing and a hospital in the Himalayan country. Both Nepal and Patanjali Yogpeeth deny any offense. The 72-year-old Nepal heads a small opposition group in Parliament and its United Socialist Party says the prosecution is an act of ‘political vendetta’ against him. “I did nothing illegal nor conceded to any corruption of Patanjali land agreement that caused the state any loss,” Nepal said on the Kantipur Daily newspaper. The Commission for the Investigation of Authority (CIAA), a corruption watchdog, claims that some of the land, in the Cavre district, was later allowed to be exchanged with other land, or sold at a higher price, which caused a loss for the state. The allegations were set out in a charge sheet filed by the commission on Thursday with the Special Court in Kathmandu. The commission demanded that Nepal be ordered to pay a fine of 185.85 million Nepali calls ($ 1.35 million). If convicted, he could also be sentenced to 17 years in prison. A spokesman for Patanjali in India denied any offense and said it bought the land privately through the right legal process. “Patanjali has not acquired government land. It is unfair to drag our name in local political vendetta action and proceedings,” Patanjali spokesman Sk Tijarawala told Reuters in a text message. The commission also charged 92 others, including some former ministers and officials, some of whom have already died. Yaga Raj Regmi, court information officer, said Nepal would receive a formal notice from the court giving him 15 days to introduce himself to the court and that the hearing would begin afterwards.