Mr. Bijaya N Bhattarai has been governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) since January 2005. His term expires at the end of January 2010.He joined NRB in 1972 as an Officer. He served as Executive Director in various departments of the bank before becoming Deputy Governor (2000-05) with responsibility to supervise, among others, the Bank's Microfinance Department. He has also served as Chairman of th Rural Self-Reliance Fund, BoD, Poverty Alleviation Fund and BoD of Agricultural Development Bank of Nepal.
Mr Bhattarai was suspended from his post after the Commission for Investigation (CIAA) filed a case in June 2007 alleging him of misappropriating over 20 million rupees in the World Bank funded financial sector reform project. After protracted trail the Supreme Court acquitted him of corruption charges and re-instated as Governor on 26 July, 2009.
