Panchthar, October 29

It has come to surface that accounts officer Pemba Sherpa was involved in financial irregularities at Phidim Municipality, Panchthar.

Sherpa is found to have written to the bank to deposit the money allocated in the names of the deceased in his account.

The incident came to the light when a letter sent by Sherpa to the bank to deposit Rs 24,000 allocated in the names of three deceased of Ward No 4 in his account became public.

A probe committee led by municipality spokesperson Narendra Gurung has been formed as it has also come to surface that Sherpa and other staffers were even involved in embezzling more than Rs 10 million fund of the municipality.

Organising a press meet today, the probe committee said it had started the investigation into the case.

Account Officer Sherpa, however, said that he was not involved in any kind of irregularities.

The accounts officer claimed that he had written to the bank to deposit the money in his account as money meant for the deceased could not be transferred into the municipality’s account from one bank to another.

Stakeholders, however, say that law does not allow an account s officer to write to the bank to deposit the money allocated for the deceased in his/her  personal account.

Family members have to register death of the deceased within 35 days of their demise. Since majority of the people do not register death of the deceased, the Ministry of the Local Development keeps allocating the budget in the names of the deceased as well.