CIAA files case against Ex-Minister Pande

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KATHMANDU: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Friday lodged a corruption case against former minister Bikram Pande and 21 officials at the Special Court, citing misappropriation of funds in Sikta Main Irrigation Project.
The CIAA has accused Pande, also the Chairman of Kalika Construction Pvt., and other officials of their involvement in the irregularities and comprise in quality works of the mega project.
Pande is accused of illegally amassing Rs 2.13 billion in connection with the project. Similarly, Project Chief Saroj Pandit has been accused of misusing over Rs 595 million, while officials Dilip Bahadur Karki of over Rs 1.56 billion, Ramesh Basnet of over Rs 2.13 billion, Sui Dev Thapa of over Rs 270 million, Yogendra Mishra of over Rs 270 million and Shyam Bahadur Karki of over Rs 520 million.
Others charged of misappropriation are Sushil Chandra Devkota of over 580 million, Krishna Prasad Subedi of over Rs 170 million, Premraj Ghimire of over Rs 10 million, Prakash Bahadur Karki of over Rs 90 million, Bir Singh Dhami of over Rs 11million.
The anti graft body has also accused engineers of Irrigation Department, Kamal Prasad Regmi, Rabin Babu Shrestha and Ashish Bhadra Khanal of their involvement in the corruption.
Moreover, official representative of MSIRMC ITECO Nepal GV in Nepal, Hemnidhi Sharma, and engineer Arun Kumar Chaudhary have been filed the corruption cases in this regard. Project chief Sarbadev Prasad has been demanded action in line with Section 8 (3) of Corruption Control Act 2059.
The CIAA said during the monitoring it found that the main canal of the project was breached; main design of the canal was faulty, and the technicians and the contractors providing consultancy for the project failed to conduct adequate monitoring.
It was found that the construction company was condoned without conducting re-survey despite knowing the fact that the canal was breached owing to nonstandard works.
Moreover, the CIAA argued that civil servants working at the project department and Sikta Irrigation Project had involved in the project while making onsite investigation of the project.
Various other faults as not holding thorough discussion with stakeholders, evading detailed study and investigation, and standard checking were found during the field study.
The CIAA had made a field study with a team comprising the technologists some months back.

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