Kathmandu, June 18

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority today filed cases against eight officials of Transport Management Office, Itahari, on the charge of revenue embezzlement at the Special Court today.

CIAA Joint Secretary Jiba Raj Koirala confirmed that cases had been filed against eight office bearers of Itahari Transport Management Office after the CIAA probe showed that they had been involved in huge corruption.

“The CIAA probe committee found that these officials had embezzled more than Rs 612 million in the last three years. We have appealed to the court to take action against them under the Corruption Prevention Act,” said Koirala.

The anti-graft body has filed cases against under-secretaries Ramesh Prasad Dahal, Bishnu Prasad Poudel and Nayaraj Poudel, account officers Kumar Bahadur Katwal and Tikaram Adhikari and accountants Suresh Adhikari, Devraj Nepal and Rudra Prasad Dahal.

The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, on April 19, had suspended five other officials of Itahari Transport Management Office, including chief of Itahari Transport Management Office Nayaraj Nepal (under-secretary), on the charge of revenue misappropriation.

However, CIAA did not file case against them at the Special Court today.

The CIAA probe committee found that officials against whom cases were filed today had deposited less than the actual collected amount from Itahari Transport Management Office as annual revenue of the office in different banks.

The CIAA probe discovered that Itahari Transport Management Office had deposited Rs 618 million as revenue collected in 2014-15. However, the actual collection stood at Rs 657 million. The embezzled amount rose to Rs 256 million in 2015-16, when the actual collection was Rs 842 million, but only Rs 577 million was deposited in the banks. The office had collected Rs 840.5 million until August of 2016-17, but the deposited amount was Rs 308 million short of the actual collection.

Director General of the Department of Transport Management Roop Narayan Bhattarai said when public servants engage in such corrupt activities, they tarnish the image of all bureaucrats and opined the culprits should be strictly penalised. According to him, the CIAA should also probe bank officials, as ‘corruption

of this scale is impossible without their support’.

Itahari Transport Management Office collects vehicle tax, road maintenance tax and other taxes and deposits the revenue at Nepal Bank and Global IME Bank.