CIAA files corruption case against nine

BY A STAFF REPORTER,Kathmandu, July 8: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a corruption case against nine individuals including Hansapur Municipality former Deputy Mayor Renu Devi Jha and former Chief Administrative Officer Keshav Kumar Adhikari and Dev Construction, at the Special Court on Monday, for embezzling over Rs. 5.2 million of a road construction project. 

According to the CIAA, Hansapur Municipality had allocated Rs. 10 million for a road construction project from Suga Nikas to Katti in the fiscal year 2019/20. The municipality's technical team prepared a cost estimate of Rs. 14,841,947.14 including provisional sums, and the work was contracted to Dev Construction, Janakpurdham, for Rs. 9,527,793.66 including VAT, with a deadline to complete by mid-July 2021. 

Despite only partial work being done, payments were made based on falsified reports, leading to an overpayment of Rs. 781,818. Additionally, the contract was extended without securing a valid performance guarantee, causing a further loss of Rs. 2.8 million. An advance of Rs. 1.65 million given to the contractor was also not recovered. As a result, a total loss of Rs. 5,272,168.03 was caused to the government. 

The case also names Hansapur Municipality former Chief Administrative Officer Ramlochan Mandal, engineer Dinesh Kumar Mandal, non-gazetted officers Shatrudhan Shah and Gyanendra Kumar Jha, accountant Netra Lungel, sub-engineer Binod Kumar Mandal and Dev Construction’s Proprietor Shubha Chandra Mandal as defendants.

The CIAA claimed the recovery of the loss amount from the defendants and them to be punished in accordance with the prevailing laws.