*Event date: 2025-12-09*
Nepal’s anti-corruption agency has filed charges against 55 people and a Chinese engineering company over alleged fraud and cost inflation in the construction of Pokhara international airport, turning one of the country’s biggest infrastructure projects into a major corruption case.
AP reports that the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority says the accused include former ministers and officials, and that the alleged irregularities inflated construction costs by more than $74 million. The case was filed at the Special Court in Kathmandu, which handles corruption matters tied to government dealings.
The size of the case matters. The AP report calls it one of the biggest corruption cases in the Himalayan nation, and it reaches into a project that was supposed to be a flagship development for western Nepal. The airport’s public importance, and the amount of money involved, make the charges politically and financially significant.
According to the report, the bidding agreed with the government in 2012 was originally set at $169.6 million, but officials later increased the amount. The alleged overrun suggests a project that changed materially as it moved from planning into construction. The report does not say who will be called first or when hearings will begin.
Two officials from China CAMC Engineering Company Limited are among those named. That adds an international dimension to a case that is otherwise rooted in Nepal’s domestic governance problems. It also raises the possibility of diplomatic sensitivity, though the AP report focuses on the charges themselves rather than on any broader fallout.
For Nepal, airport costs have long been a politically sensitive subject because infrastructure promises are often framed as symbols of modernization and economic growth. A case like this cuts in the opposite direction, suggesting not just waste but the possibility that public money was systematically diverted or inflated.
The report does not spell out the defence from any of the named individuals, nor does it say whether arrests were made. But the filing of charges alone is a notable escalation, because it moves the case from audit and allegation into formal prosecution.
If the court accepts the agency’s claims, the case could become an example of how Nepal is trying to tackle corruption in large public works. If it does not, the project will still stand as a reminder of the scale of concern around procurement, contracting and cost control. Either way, the airport’s construction history is now part of a much bigger argument about accountability in Nepal’s public sector.
