KATHMANDU, Aug 12: The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) arrested five engineers from Nepal Telecom (NT) and filed a case against them as well as two others on corruption charges, at the Special Court on Monday.
Those arrested are Senior Engineers Rajendra Maharjan, Ram Naresh Singh Kuwar and Anil Kumar Acharya and Assistant Engineers Shri Krishna Bhujel and Bhai Krishna Maharjan. The anti-corruption body also filed case against Chairman of Baneshwar-based Aakriti International Pvt Ltd, Nabaraj Raut, and the company´s general manager Pankaj Kumar Banthiya, an Indian national. The CIAA said Raut is at large. [break]
According to the anti-corruption body, the officials and the agents of the companies involved incurred the public utility a loss of Rs 51.188 million by supplying the refrigerant R22 Gas in contravention of specifications mentioned in the tender agreement.
Beijing-based AIRSYS Refrigeration Engineering Technology, Beijing Co Ltd was awarded the contract to supply Air Conditioning Equipment (40kw) and R419A Gas, but the supplier and its local agent Aakriti International Pvt Ltd supplied R22 instead.
“The NT officials and those working with the local agent were arrested as they were found colluding with the supplier,” CIAA Spokesman Shreedhar Sapkota told Republica.
R22, which looks exactly the same as R419A, is banned in most countries as it poses a health hazard. “Even in our country instructions have been issued to replace it,” he said.
According to Sapkota, the CIAA in its study found that officials working with NT´s procurement division and the inspection team were in collusion with the supplier and the latter´s local agents in cheating the public utility through faking.
According to him, top officials at NT couldn´t differentiate between the genuine and faulty as they look the same on the outside.
The CIAA´s study proved that there was serious corruption involved. It took up the matter after a technical individual from within NT filed a complaint at the commission.
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