May 7: The Special Court has sentenced the then Managing Director of Nepal Telecom Sunil Poudel to nine years in jail and fined Rs 232.7 million after convicting him on a corruption charge in the procurement of National Payment Gateway.    
Chairman of Special Court Tek Narayan Kunwar and Judge Murari Babu Shrestha decided the jail term and penalty on Tuesday although the court had convicted Poudel on April 19.

Poudel has been sent to the Dillibazar Prison following the court's verdict.    

Government's secretary Madhu Kumar Marasani and seven others were acquitted in the same case.    
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had lodged the case at the Special Court some six months ago claiming that a huge amount of the state money was misused while procuring the National Payment Gateway six years ago by preparing an inflated estimate.    
The others getting a clean chit from the Special Court include the then Secretary of Ministry of Science and Technology, and Chairman of the National Information Technology Centre Sanjay Sharma, the then Executive Director of National Information Technology Centre Pranita Upadhyay and the then Director of the centre Saphal Shrestha. -- RSS