Kathmandu, August 31

The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, which had two weeks ago written to the Ministry of Supplies to investigate alleged irregularities in Nepal Oil Corporation’s land purchase deals and submit a report within 15 days, is still awaiting the investigation report.

The NOC had purchased land at several places to build oil storage plants.

The Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee had concluded on August 4 that there were serious irregularities in the NOC’s land purchase deals.

The PAC has already directed the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority to conduct a detailed investigation into the controversial land deals and take action against those involved, attaching a copy of the letter to the ministry.

According to Secretary Kedar Bahadur Adhikari, the OPMCM will soon follow up with the ministry for the report and initiate necessary steps as per its findings.

However, Minister of Supplies Shiva Kumar Mandal said it would take a few more days for the ministry to submit the report. “I am out of Kathmandu and will return after two-three days,” said Mandal. “Once I am back, we’ll submit the report. For that, we’ll seek extension of deadline from the OPMCM.”

The minister said he had not received any copy of the PAC’s directive to the CIAA. “We are only following the OPMCM’s instruction and the investigation committee of the ministry is studying the matter,” said Mandal.

PAC Chairman Dor Prasad Upadhyaya, however, said the ministry’s investigation was nothing but a formality since the matter had already reached the CIAA. Given the seriousness of the matter, the ministry should have launched the investigation by suspending the NOC chief before the matter had reached the CIAA, he said. “The ministry is just making excuses.”

But Minister Mandal asked how he could suspend someone without ascertaining the truth and necessary proof. “If the alleged irregularity is proven, I will not take even a minute to suspend the NOC chief,” he said.

The PAC plans to summon officials concerned soon.

According to CIAA Spokesperson Jivraj Koirala, the anti-graft body is investigating the matter.

In its investigation, the PAC has found four major flaws in NOC’s deals to buy plots in Jhapa, Sarlahi, Chitwan and Rupandehi to build oil storage facilities.

First, the NOC should have followed the Land Acquisition Act while acquiring the plots. Instead, it followed the Public Procurement Act, which allowed it to call tender.

Second, the NOC breached the limit on the area of land to be purchased imposed by its management committee. For example, the NOC bought 15 bigha land at one of the locations where the management committee had asked it not to buy more than three bighas, according to PAC Chairman Upadhyaya.

Third, the NOC paid several times more than the official rates for the land it bought. On top of that, it bought the land through middlemen. “Our investigation has found that in some cases the actual land owners got just around Rs 5 lakh for a plot for which the NOC paid around Rs 1.5 million,” said Upadhyaya.

Finally, the locations where the NOC has purchased the plots are not ideal for building petroleum storage facilities. Some plots are located on the banks of rivers, said Upadhyaya.

In line with the government’s instruction to maintain fuel stock for at least 90 days, the NOC had launched the process of acquiring plots to build fuel storage plants in each of the seven provinces.

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