KATHMANDU, APRIL 14
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority has filed a chargesheet against nine persons, including former chief administrative officer of Bhimdatta Municipality, at the Special Court for their alleged involvement in corruption causing a huge loss of revenue to the state in collusion with a contractor firm.
Those indicted by the anti-graft body yesterday are former CAO of the municipality Pushkar Prasad Bhatta, account officer Govinda Raj Upadhyay, engineer Himalaya Singh Aier, section officer Subash Adhikari, nayab subba (non-gazzetted first class) Bishnu Dev Bhatta, accountant Dipendra Choudhary, and directors of Shree Bhawani Construction Pvt Ltd Ishwari Prasad Bhatta, Keshab Raj Bhatta and Diwakar Bhatta.
According to a press release issued by the CIAA, the persons in question had embezzled a whooping sum of Rs 54 million through a contract awarded to Shree Bhawani Construction Pvt Ltd for extraction of river products, including stone, pebble, sand, gravel and clay, from the Mahakali River in the fiscal 2021-22. The anti-graft body said they had embezzled the revenue in a premeditated manner from the beginning of invitation for bid.
The municipality officials were found to have awarded the contract to the construction company for the extraction of river products without considering the minimum rate mentioned in the Sudurpaschim Province Finance Act, 2022.
The defendants had embezzled the revenue under various headings such as VAT, rate of river products and bid price. They had shared the embezzled revenue among themselves.
CIAA Spokesperson Bhola Dahal said they had been charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2002.
The anti-graft body has demanded that the court recover Rs 34 million along with a fine equivalent thereto from Puskar Prasad and Govinda Raj each. Similarly, Rs 20 million has been claimed from Himalaya Singh, Subash, Bishnu Dev and Dipendra each. In the case of Ishwori, Diwakar and Bhawani, the CIAA has claimed Rs 54 million each. As Ishwori had died before the filing of the charge-sheet at the court, the CIAA has claimed the recovery of the amount from his wife Khadeshwori Bhatta.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had ordered the government to formulate, regulate and monitor local policies, laws and standards in a manner to fully abide by the prevailing laws and ensure good governance for registration, licensing, renewal and management of identification of natural resources like stones, pebbles and sand, and their protection, extraction and use. Local levels can formulate and implement the laws as per necessity.
