Kathmandu, October 5

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority today filed a corruption case at the Special Court against 12 people, including former proprietor of Pappu Construction Hari Narayan Prasad Sah Rauniyar and his son Sumit Rauniyar, who owns the company, for using substandard materials in Babai Bridge.

Hari Narayan is a member of Parliament from Parsa-3 constituency and was elected on Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal’s ticket.

The anti-graft body’s action comes in the backdrop of allegations that Pappu Construction kept winning contracts worth billions of rupees despite failing to complete construction on time.

The   CIAA has accused lawmaker Rauniyar and his son  Sumit  each of embezzling Rs 193,225,695, according to a press release issued by the anti-graft body. In the charge-sheet, the CIAA invoked Section 8 (4) of the Prevention of Corruption Act against Hari Narayan and Sumit seeking a jail sentence up to two years for them. If convicted, the defendants will also have to pay fines equal to the embezzled amount.

It also filed a charge-sheet against nine government employees of Divisional Road Office, Nepalgunj, and Everest Engineering Consultant Krishna Dev Yadav.

The CIAA accused Karma Tenjin Tamang, a sub-engineer of Divisional Road Office, Nepalgunj, of siphoning off Rs 150,884,713.

Former division chief Manoj Shrestha was accused of embezzling Rs  92,424,099, according to a press release issued by the CIAA.

Other government officials who face graft charges are Acting Division Chief Nabraj KC, Engineer Hari Bahadur Khadka, former division chief Rajesh Kumar Yadav, Engineer Prem Prasad Chuwai,  Sub-engineer Govinda Gaire, former division chief Bhanu Joshi and  Everest Engineering Consultant Krishna Dev Yadav.

The anti-graft body has accused government officials involved in the project of endorsing the reckless line level and pier height of the bridge and not properly surveying the construction site.

The CIAA added that the specification was not based on the rules and government officials had made payments to the contractor without certifying the quality of construction.

The CIAA had investigated the project after it received complaints about Pappu Construction   compromising on the quality of Babai Bridge in Jabdighat. Pappu Construction had signed a contract with the government on 6 July 2011 to construct the bridge linking Gulariya and Barbardiya municipalities.

It added that the piles of the bridge were not built as per the depth design and the bridge caved in due to cavities in the piles.

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