Altogether 10 firms had bid for the tender to supply 56,059 jackets and Nepal Police awarded the tender on July 2 to Ananda Trade Concerns, Teku, Kathmandu, which had quoted the third highest price. [break]
The firm, in its bid application, proposed to supply the jackets at the cost of US $1,345,416, or US $ 24 per piece. The price quoted excludes taxes.
Had the Public Procurement Act 2007 been adhered to, New Siddha Deurali Traders, Ichangu, Kathmandu would have been selected for the tender, according to documents obtained by myrepublica.com from the Procurement Department of Nepal Police.
This firm had proposed to supply the jackets at the cost of US$ 616,088, or $10.99 per jacket, excluding taxes. This was the lowest price among the 10 bidders.
Besides Deurali Traders, four other firms had quoted prices lower than Ananda Trade Concerns. Only three other parties had proposed higher bid prices than Ananda Trade.
Clause 25 (5) of the procurement act says that public tenders should be selected on the basis of bid prices, meaning firms proposing the lowest bid prices should be selected for tenders at public offices.
“But this legal provision was not followed while awarding this tender,” said a knowledgeable source at Nepal Police.
Calculations by myrepublica.com on the basis of available bid prices show that the difference between the bid by Ananda Trade Concern and the lowest bid was US$ 629,328.
Sources said that this amount was given as commission to high-ranking police officers and politicians by Ananda Trade Concern.
Ananda Trade is run by Deepak Bhatta, who is said to have been close to Ramesh Chand Thakuri, Inspector General of Police.
The controversial deal is currently under investigation by the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), the constitutional anti-graft body. The body, on July 13, had raided Police Headquarters to seize all documents related to the deal.
Questions over investigation
In the meantime, police officers who want fair investigations into the deal have questioned the ongoing investigation by the CIAA.
The constitutional body has assigned joint secretaries Dilli Raman Acharya and Ram Acharya to the probe but the later happens to be the brother-in-law of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal.
“Involvement of the prime minister´s relative in investigations into a scam that may ultimately drag in CPN-UML leaders will affect the credibility and impartiality of the probe,” said a senior police officer on condition of anonymity.
kiran@myrepublica.com
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