People charged with murder and organised crime in connection with gold smuggling may also be prosecuted for corruption, money laundering and foreign exchange misappropriation.

The Morang District Attorney’s Office (DAO), which filed a charge sheet at the district court on Wednesday against 63 suspects in connection with gold smuggling and the subsequent murder of a racket member, has recommended that constitutional and government agencies probe them for possible corruption, money laundering and foreign exchange misappropriation.

According to the paper, the prosecutor, DAO, has decided to write to the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority to watch over DIG Govinda Prasad Niraula, SSP Shyam Bahadur Khatri, SP Bikas Raj Khanal, DSP Sanjaya Bahadur Raut, Sub-inspector Bal Krishna Sanjel, police Constable Bishnu Khadka, Senior Constable Ambar Bahadur Thapa Magar and Nepal Airlines Corporation staffers Raju Maharjan, Rajan Thapa, Tularam Tharu and Amarman Dangol.

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The government employees found to have taken undue advantage while in office face investigation under Clause 20 of the Organised Crime Act and Clause 59 of the Corruption Prevention Act, according to the charge sheet.CIAA Spokesperson Dirgha Raj Mainali said the anti-graft body is yet to receive the correspondence. “We’ll initiate probe after receiving the letter,” he said.

In the case of defendants other than government employees, the prosecutor has decided to write to the Department of Money Laundering Investigation (DoMLI) to probe their illegal incomes as provisioned in Clause 20 of the Organised Crime Act and Clause 29 of the Money Laundering Prevention Act.

According to the charge sheet, the accused have earned property through criminal means involving gangs, gold smuggling, abduction and murder. Given the possibility of the illegally earned money getting into businesses, the prosecutor had sought details of bank accounts, vehicles, land and properties and the shares owned by the accused and their family members. The government agencies concerned have been requested to freeze the specified movable and immovable properties with approval from the court, according to the charge sheet.

Jiwan Prakash Sitaula, director general of the DoMLI, said the department would find facts about the people involved in gold smuggling, sources of their income and investments to check against money laundering.The prosecutor has also decided to write to the Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) and the Nepal Rastra Bank to investigate into possible foreign exchange embezzlement by the defendants other than government officials as they used Hundi to transfer fund in violation of foreign exchange rules. DRI Director General Bhupal Baral said the department would take up the matter in due process.