The members accused have been objecting to the deal during discussions in the parliamentary committee as well as at public forums. [break]
A meeting of the parliamentary committee scheduled for Saturday morning to discuss the controversy surrounding the deal was postponed as most members failed to show up.
Only 10 lawmakers on the 63-member committee were present at the meeting. At least 16 members should be present at a meeting to start formal discussions and take official decisions.
Deep Kumar Upadhyaya, Mahendra Dhwaj GC and Ajay Chaurasiya from Nepali Congress (NC), Lal Babu Pundit and Bhanubhakta Joshi of CPN-UML, Pramod Prasad Gupta of Madhesi People´s Rights Forum, Hridayesh Tripathi of Tarai-Madhes Democratic Party and Anil Jha of Sadbhawana Party were among those present at the meeting. But no lawmaker from the main opposition UCPN (Maoist) party turned up.
Maoist lawmaker Prahlad Lamichhane claimed that they didn´t attend the meeting as they felt it was called with an intention of creating unnecessary hindrances in MoFA´s work to deliver MRPs to the public.
Ravindra Adhikari of CPN-UML said most of the lawmakers couldn´t attend the meeting as it was called suddenly and without proper consultation among members.
"Some of our friends have placed too much emphasis on this issue simply on the basis of a complaint filed by the very companies that failed to obtain the MRP deal," Lamichhane said.
According to him, most members are for probing the row but without hindering the process begun by the ministry as the government has already missed the deadline set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for introducing the MRPs.
He said the majority of members were not for holding the meeting on Saturday but some lawmakers insisted on it. PAC Chairman Ram Krishna Yadav said he called the meeting upon a request by Jha, Gupta, Chaurasiya and GC among other members.
Some of them have demanded that the government probe the allegation that the French company offered "sub-standard" personalization printers.
Chaurasiya said the government has to prove either that the French company bagged the deal by submitting fake certificates or that the companies that are complaining have tried to mislead the government with false complaints. "The government must find out what the reality is," he said.
Jha claimed that the meeting was thwarted in a planned way. At a PAC meeting on July 13, Jha had maintained that the passports to be procured from the French company would compromise security features.
"The passport offered by India was more secure than the one to be supplied by the French company," Jha had said, demanding revocation of the tender.
Indonesian Perum Peruri and British De La Rue that vied for the contract filed the complaints accusing the French security printer of furnishing a fake user certificate for the personalized printers from PARK and OPC. They alleged that the PARK and OPC personalized printers were not used in Korea and Ghana, contrary to the claim by Oberthur.
In the second week of July, India had officially lodged its concern with Nepal about the quality of passports that the French firm would supply. The Indian Embassy sent a letter to the ministry expressing Indian´s concern about media reports that “security features in the MRPs have been diluted” while awarding the tender to the French security printer.
The French company was selected in the re-tender process after the government scrapped the first bidding in which an Indian state-owned company vied for the deal.
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