PAC instructed OPMCM and MoE on the basis of a report submitted by a high-level probe constituted by MoE to look into the scam. [break] The report has indicted HSEB Vice-chairman Upendra Kumar Koirala and Member Secretary Ram Bahadur Khadka for flouting the rules in awarding the contract for printing and distributing 44.42 million answer-sheets for this year´s grade XI and XII examinations.
PAC also instructed the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to probe the scam further. PAC´s instruction on further investigations comes against the argument of some of its members that the probe panel´s report is incomplete and ambiguous. While clearly vocal in exposing the errors, the report has failed to pinpoint the guilty.
At Thursday´s meeting, PAC also grilled members of the probe panel and top officials of MoE. The panel members were summoned to the meeting for shedding further light on the conclusions of their report. The panel members maintained that their investigation was constrained by time and the limited terms of reference (TOR).
Irregularities in awarding the contract for printing and distributing answer-sheets to Om Shiva and Surya Deep Press of Kathmandu were exposed by HSEB´s financial comptroller Kameshwar Mandal. PAC had taken up the issue following media reports on the irregularities.
Report challenged
Dubbing the report of the probe panel as ´false´ and ´misguided´, Upendra Koirala, vice chairman of HSEB, has knocked on the doors of the CIAA. In his complaint submitted to the CIAA, Koirala has urged the anti-graft body to investigate the probe panel itself for misguiding PAC. Koirala has asked the CIAA to punish all three members of the panel--Hari Prasad Basyal, Yoga Raj Pokharel and Keshav Pande -- as per the Prevention of Corruption Act (1953), for being ´influenced´ in its investigations.
"I was the one who went to the districts and found out that the bundles of answer sheets sent to various exam centers consisted of fewer papers," Koirala told Republica. "How can it be just to indict me in the scam disregarding the fact that I helped award the contract to the lowest bidder."
Koirala said the probe panel members have reached their conclusions without taking into consideration the HSEB acts and regulations.
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