Kathmandu, August 19:

‘Irregularities’ in staff hiring.

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) today raided the central office of Agriculture Development Bank Nepal (ADBN) and seized documents related to the recruitment of permanent employees for the bank.

A CIAA source told this daily that the constitutional anti-graft body raided the ADB office at Ramshahpath after finding ‘irregularities’ in the examination process for the selection of staffers.

The bank had conducted examination for the permanent recruitment of section officers, legal officers, accountants and several other posts a few moths ago.

Acting chief of the CIAA Lalit Bahadur Limbu, however, said that the documents were seized for investigation. “The investigation is going on. We will take further action if we found any irregularity in the recruitment process,” Limbu added.

Prem Prasad Poudel and Basistha Ghimire, investigation officers at CIAA, seized the documents from the bank.

“They submitted the seized documents — answer sheets, question papers and other related papers — to senior CIAA officials after the raid,” the source added.

The source further added initial investigation had revealed many irregularities in the examination process.

“The bank had already started interviewing candidates, who passed the written exam,” the source said.

The source further disclosed that top officials of the bank were influencing the selection process by taking bribes from some candidates. The written examination for the posts was conducted six months ago.