The report prepared by a team of five joint-secretaries disclosed that half the three billion rupees distributed among district development committees (DDCs) was either misused or embezzled. [break]
Following the panel´s preliminary report, the ministry has suspended a local development officer (LDO) and sent letters to five other LDOs to furnish clarifications. Legal action will be taken against them if the ministry does not find the clarifications satisfactory.
The ministry is currently investigating development funds used by 20 DDCs. A preliminary investigation report on five DDCs has been prepared so far.
MoLD suspended officiating LDO of Bara district Shyam Sundar Mishra, accusing him of involvement in anomalies. According to MoLD, Mishra was found to have waived Rs 10 million from the DDC fund for a contractor, in violation of the law. MoLD has also sought clarifications from former LDO of Bara Umesh Basnet, suspecting his involvement in financial irregularities.
MoLD has dispatched letters to five DDCs -- Kaski, Banke, Surkhet, Bara and Rupandehi -- to furnish clarifications as to why they distributed financial assistance and unusual amounts in advance to various party organizations and cadres, in violation of existing acts and regulations.
"We have already sent letter in their names," said Dinesh Thapaliya, Joint-Secretary and Spokesperson at MoLD, adding, "We will take necessary action after receiving their replies."
- MoLD investigates 20 DDCs
- One LDO suspended, five others asked clarifications, 14 under scanner
- Rupandehi, Rautahat, Bara top in state coffers misuse
- Gross violation of financial discipline: JS Thapaliya
MoLD has been deploying five of its joint-secretaries to investigate financial misconduct in suspect DDCs. In the first phase of its investigation, MoLD has been probing Morang, Ilam, Rautahat, Bara, Kaski, Rupandehi, Banke, Surkhet, Kanchanpur and Dadeldhura through the deployment of Joint-Secretaries Reshmi Raj Pandey, Somlal Subedi, Dinesh Thapaliya, Bhim Upadhyaya and Bhupendra Basnet respectively.
The joint-secretary level probe panels have already submitted their investigation reports on Kaski, Banke, Surkhet, Bara and Rupandehi.
The Local Development Act allows LDOs to distribute only up to Rs 100,000 from DDC funds as financial assistance. But the reports reveal that Kaski, Banke, Surkhet, Bara and Rupandehi distributed more than what the Act allows.
The report shows that Rupandehi DDC alone distributed Rs 2 million in financial assistance last fiscal year, out of which Rs 500,000 was doled out to party organizations.
The report shows that Surkhet, Kaski and Banke DDCs doled out Rs 700,000, 300,000 and 300,000 respectively under the financial assistance head.
The report also shows that Bara DDC alone released Rs 100 million as an advance amount to contractors, or three times more than legal provisions allow. "Bara DDC has not settled the Rs 100 million as per the existing Act," reads the report submitted at the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM). The Local Development Act says that advance amounts should be settled within 35 days from the date of issuance.
Similarly, Rautahat DDC has been found to have released Rs 30 million as an advance to contractors.
The investigation mainly focused on the rationale for approving local development plans and on whether the DDC board had decided to approve the plan, whether there was misappropriation of financial assistance doled out to political parties, what kinds of taxes were involved, the source of income of the DDC and the trend towards advance amounts and arrears.
MoLD said it is investigating Kathmandu, Parsa, Sunsari, Dhankuta, Panchthar, Kapilvastu, Tanahun and Kailali DDCs to find out whether they were involved in anomalies.
"DDCs are found to have been involved in gross violation of financial discipline," said Thapaliya, who is also member-secretary of the high-level monitoring committee set up by Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal to investigate irregularities at DDCs. "The trend of financial irregularities has come as a challenge to the concept of decentralization," he added.
Probe panel reports say that most DDCs have been distributing amounts to various party organizations to organize seminars and rallies, without following the proper procedures.
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