The CIAA has filed the corruption case against Secretaries Sharad Chandra Paudel and Ranjan Krishna Aryal, former secretary Sushil Ghimire and Joint Secretaries Megh Bahadur Pandey and Dilli Prasad Siwakoti, as well as NTB former chief executive officer (CEO) Prachanda Man Shrestha, suspended acting CEO Subash Nirola, and Directors Aaditya Baral, Nandini Lahe Thapa, Kashi Raj Bhandari, Anil Das, and Hikmat Singh Air. Likewise, former executive committee member of NTB Pampha Devi Dhamala (Paudel), incumbent members Ratish Chandra Lal Suman, Rewat Bahadur Thapa, Dhruba Narayan Shrestha and Phur Golje Sherpa, and NTB staffers Dhruba Rai, Laxman Gautam, Leela Bahadur Baniya, Diwakar Bikram Rana and Tikaram Sapkota are also defendants in the case.
Subash Nirola, Ranjan Krishna Aryal and Sharad Chandra Paudel
56 secys, 662 joint-secys and 848 under-secys adjusted in three...
The CIAA has claimed a total of Rs 810.4 million. However, the anti-graft body has claimed amounts separately from the individuals.
Among the 23 accused, the CIAA has claimed the biggest amount from suspended CEO Nirola. The CIAA has asked for Rs 337.25 million from Nirola.
According to the commission, Acting Director Anil Das and Director Hikmat Singh Air were the most corrupt officials at the NTB after Nirola and Rs 179.49 million and Rs 165.46 million respectively have been claimed from them.
The CIAA has also allegedly found former CEO Prachanda Man Shrestha involved in embezzling Rs 2.8 million.
Former secretary Ghimire and former executive members of NTB Megh Bahadur Pandey and Pampha Devi Dhamala and incumbent members Ratis Chandra Lal, Rewat Bahadur Thapa, Dhruba Narayan Shrestha and Phur Golje Sherpa were found embezzling a total of Rs 112.89 million through arbitrary approval of expenses.
Meanwhile, government secretaries Sharad Chandra Paudel and Ranjan Krishna Aryal, ex-officio member of the NTB, along with Joint Secretary Dilli Prasad Siwakoti and board member Tika Ram Sapkota have been accused of embezzling a total amount of Rs 6.12 million. The four are accused of taking decisions to amend the financial bylaws of the NTB to approve irregular expenditures.
"It was found during the investigations that 29 other NTB staffers were compelled to sign documents and they have helped the investigations of the commission. For these reasons, the commission requests to acquit them and present them as government witness," states a press release issued by the CIAA.
According to CIAA investigation officer Yadav Khanal, the commission investigated scams taking place at the NTB over the last four years.
The CIAA investigations found that the officials embezzled huge budgetary amounts by clearing expenditure invoices for programs that were not organized, purchasing goods, hiring vehicles, as well as including expenditure invoices for alcohol, personal expenses and forged air tickets. Likewise, the officials are accused of haphazardly paying cash in the name of international fairs and withdrawing cash from bank accounts.
The corruption scandal at the NTB surfaced last year as a section of media and tourism entrepreneurs claimed irregularities over the National Tourism Fair and entrepreneurs formed a Joint Tourism Co-ordination Committee to launch protests against Acting CEO Nirola.
A probe committee formed by the Tourism Ministry under the chairmanship of Joint Secretary Purna Chandra Bhattarai had submitted a report to the Public Accounts Committee on October 15, showing that Nirola had been involved in financial anomalies at NTB. The Parliamentary Committee had urged the CIAA to further investigate the corruption scandal.
A meeting held under the chairmanship of Tourism Secretary Suresh Man Shrestha on October 30 had taken a decision to suspend Nirola.
The investigation of the CIAA has unfolded misdeeds not only by Nirola but by many others at the NTB.
