KATHMANDU, July 23: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a corruption case at the Special Court against 10 individuals, including the then acting chief administrative officer and deputy chairperson of Palanta Rural Municipality in Kalikot, over alleged financial irregularities in a road construction project.
According to the CIAA, the corruption occurred in the Felkedhunga–Lekhanwada Ward Office–Dursi–Fagoti Road Construction Project under the rural municipality’s fiscal year 2018/19 budget.
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The project had a budget allocation of Rs 4 million, and an agreement of the same amount was signed with a users’ committee. Although measurement books and the project completion report claimed that 1,200 cubic meters of gabion stone filling had been completed and Rs 3.8 million had been paid to the users’ committee, a technical field inspection by the CIAA found that only 939.5 cubic meters of work had actually been carried out—260.5 cubic meters less than reported.
The anti-graft body concluded that Rs 808,680.57 had been overpaid based on falsified bills and documents, resulting in unlawful financial gain. It has sought recovery of the amount along with imprisonment and fines under Nepal’s Prevention of Corruption Act, 2002.
The CIAA has charged former acting Chief Administrative Officer Raj Bahadur Bam, former Accounts Chief Khim Lal Pun, and former Assistant Accountant Muni Prasad Pyakurel, seeking recovery of Rs 808,680.57, imprisonment and fines under Section 8(1) of the Act.
Former sub-engineers Binod Kumar Bam and Nanda Bahadur Singh have been charged under Sections 8(1) and 19(2) for submitting false technical reports. Former Deputy Chairperson Dana Neupane and former Ward No. 9 Chairperson Takka Bahadur Bam have also been charged under Section 19(2), which deals with false reporting.
Similarly, the chairperson, treasurer and secretary of the road users’ committee—Kumbha Bahadur Bam, Sulakshina Bam, and Kamal Bahadur Bam—have been charged as accomplices. The CIAA has sought recovery of Rs 808,680.57 from them and the same punishment applicable to the principal offenders, according to CIAA spokesperson Suresh Neupane.
