KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 13
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority has filed a charge-sheet at the Special Court against 11 people for embezzling a huge amount of money received by Chamunda Secondary School in Bindrasaini Municipality of Dailekh district from the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training to conduct training programmes for teachers.
Those booked by the anti-graft body are Bhimkant Laminchhane (in-charge of CTEVT, Karnali Province), Mohan Bahadur Karki (acting director of CTEVT, Karnali Province), Shivaram Rokaya (account officer of CTEVT, Karnali Province), school headmaster Prakash Timilsena, assistant accountant of school Naresh Bahadur Shahi, school management committee Chair Nanda Bahadur Shahi, and school management committee members Upendra Kumar Shahi and Dhupendra Bahadur Shahi.
Others include section officer of Karnali Province government Padham Bahadur Budha Chhetri, and CTEVT trainers Ganga Raj Shahi and Hira Bahadur Shahi.
According to the CIAA, the defendants had embezzled a whopping sum of Rs 34.3 million the school got from the CTEVT for teachers' training programme.
"The CTEVT, Karnali Province, concluded an agreement with the school for training programme without invitation for bids through public notice to seek proposals from schools interested in participating in the competition. Even after agreement was reached with the CTE- VT, the school entered into a contract with a consultancy firm instead of carrying out administration for training programme," read a press release issued by the anti-graft body. It is found that the school had entered into the contract with the consultancy firm through negotiations without competition among the interested firms against provisions stated in the Public Procurement Act and Rules.
The school administration and CTEVT officials colluded with each other to embezzle the state fund by submitting fake bills even for the trainings they never conducted. The CTEVT endorsed the bills and released the amount accordingly without verifying their authenticity.
The defendants have been charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act-2002, seeking maximum punishment against them. The CIAA said it had sought recovery of Rs 34.3 million each from 10 persons and Rs 700,000 from one person on the basis of the gravity of the offence.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 14, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
