CIAA files corruption case against PADT member secretary Thapa, 13 others

 BY A STAFF REPORTER,Kathmandu, June 23: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a corruption case against 14 individuals, including Dr. Milan Kumar Thapa, member secretary of the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) at the Special Courton Sunday. 

Former PADT member secretary and current Council member Raju Kumar Khatri, former executive director Dr. Ghanashyam Khatiwada and two companies, among others, are also made defendants in the case.

The CIAA has accused them of financial misconduct amounting to Rs. 103 million in the procurement of electric cremation machines.

According to the CIAA, the PADT officials manipulated the bidding process (Contract No. PADT/NCB/GOODS/2079-080/T4) to limit competition and favour specific parties. 

Standard procurement procedures were bypassed, and a consultancy contract was directly awarded to Map Entrepreneurs Pvt. Ltd., an inexperienced firm, it said. 

Officials allegedly appointed the firm without verifying credentials. In collusion with contractors, they fabricated quotations, created fake technical experts, and inflated cost estimates. A false report was submitted, and payment was approved even before invoices were issued.

The CIAA reported that the price of a cremation machine was inflated to Rs. 15.2 million, up from an original estimate of Rs. 3.25 million.

Despite obvious defects, low-quality machines were accepted without proper inspection, and advance payments of Rs. 18.2 million were released. The advance payment guarantee expired without recovery, and no legal steps were taken. 

The installed machines are currently non-functional due to poor quality and lack of timely maintenance.

The investigation revealed that this misconduct caused a financial loss of Rs. 103.3 million to the government. 

The case names PADT’s then deputy directors Rewati Raman Adhikari and Sitaram Risel, engineers Pashupati Thakur, Denish Upreti, Ramesh Puri and account officer Chandra Prasad Khanal as defendants. 

Additionally, Yuwaraj Adhikari, head of the Electrical Department of the Institute of Engineering Pulchowk, PADT legal advisor Lain Bahadur Thapa, Map Entrepreneurs Pvt. Ltd. and its operators Manoj Puri and Yadunandan Bhattarai and Apple Engineering Professional Consultancy Pvt. Ltd. and its managing director Suraj Chapagai have also been presented defendants in the case. 

The CIAA demanded recovery of the loss amount from the defendants.