KATHMANDU: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) today sought explanations from the members of the Janak Education Material Centre (JEMC) board of directors why departmental action should not be initiated against them in a corruption charge.

The anti-graft body sought clarifications from Ram Chandra Silwal, Bimal Aryal (then director), Arjun Bilas Pant, Kapil Dev Pokhrel (then deputy director), Bal Mukunda Khanal, Manohar Lamichhane (then marketing chief) and Uddhav Gautam (incumbent chief of financial control division) to defend themselves.

The CIAA sought explanations from them in relation to the embezzlement of Rs 25 million in course of printing school textbooks. The constitutional anti-graft body also directed the Ministry of Education and the JEMC board to blacklist Nepal Sahitya Prakashan Kendra for printing government-owned documents. The CIAA directed the JMEC to recover Rs 7,959,426 from proprietor Mohan Kumar Upadhyaya.