“We will likely submit a charge sheet against the officials and contractors at the Special Court on Sunday", said a CIAA source, adding, “We decided to bring them to court as a huge amount of money was released without monitoring the standard and quality of APCs (armoured personnel carriers) and other logistics.” [break]
The CIAA has concluded that Rs 300 million was embezzled in the process of procuring and supplying APCs to Nepali peacekeepers deployed in Sudan.
According to a knowledgeable source, the CIAA will try three former police chiefs -- Om Bikram Rana, Hem Bahadur Gurung and Ramesh Chand Thakuri -- as the main accused in the scam. The source claimed that the anti-graft body will also try former AIGs Shayam Singh Thapa, Dipak Thangden and Deependra Bista and DIG Ramesh Bikram Shah, SSP Shyam Bahadur Khadka and former DIG Deepak Kumar Shrestha for abetting the fraud.
The two contractors likely to be brought to trail are Michael Rider; director of the London-based Assured Risks -- the company that supplied the APCs and other logistics to the Nepali peacekeepers -- and Shambhu Bharati, a local agent of the same company.
Police officials indicted in the Sudan scam worked in the Procurement Section or Management Section at Nepal Police Headquarters or at the Police Welfare Fund.
“We are not filing case against junior staff,” the source said, adding, “We are filing case only against those whose roles were crucial in the process of procuring and supplying the logistics and releasing money to the supplier,” said the source.
Another source, however, claimed that the number of those to be indicted may go up to 13.
The contract agreement for the procurement of APCs was signed between Nepal Police and Assured Risks during ex-police chief Rana´s tenure. “Rana, Gurung and Thakuri released huge amounts of money from the Police Welfare Fund to the supplier without checking the quality of the APCs and logistics as per the contract agreement,” reads the charge sheet prepared by the CIAA.
Furnishing written clarifications at the CIAA, Assured Risks had claimed that it supplied standard and functional APCs but the APCs became obsolete and non-functional due to lack of proper maintenance and monitoring by Nepal Police.
The charge sheet further states that those involved in releasing the money have been found guilty of neglecting the inspection aspect before releasing payment to the APC supplier.
The CIAA had interrogated more than three dozen police officers, including three police chiefs, in connection with the procurement deal reached two years ago.
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