KATHMANDU, Nov 15: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a corruption case related to the purchase of the Mobile Device Management System (MDMS) without reviewing important documents related to the procurement, causing delays in the hearing process. The hearing is now scheduled for November 26, after the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) submitted the missing documents to the Special Court on Thursday.
The CIAA hastily filed the case, omitting key documents such as the proposal from the contractor company, Numera, and the technical report from the evaluation committee. As a result, the Special Court’s hearing of the MDMS case was delayed.
The Special Court had previously sent a strongly worded letter to the NTA, demanding the submission of these documents by Thursday. The NTA complied and provided the documents within the deadline, leading to expectations that the case would proceed more swiftly.
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On March 28, the CIAA filed the case in the Special Court against 19 individuals, including two former chairpersons of the NTA, alleging irregularities in the MDMS purchase. Despite this, the CIAA had not reviewed important documents, including the technical report from the evaluation committee, the certification by the then-chairperson of the NTA, and the proposal from the vendor company.
The absence of these documents has affected the case’s progress. While the Special Court issued a verdict in just four months for a similar corruption case regarding excise sticker printing, filed in June, the MDMS case, filed seven months ago, has seen slower progress.
While investigating the corruption in the MDMS purchase, CIAA had requested these documents from the NTA a year ago. At that time, however, the NTA’s procurement unit responded that the documents were misplaced. Ironically, this is the very unit responsible for safeguarding all details and documents related to contracts.
After the NTA responded that the documents were ‘misplaced’ and would be provided as soon as found, the CIAA did not pursue the documents any further. Instead, the CIAA focused on completing the investigation as quickly as possible and filed the case in court.
When the hearing of the case began in the Special Court, the lawyers requested that the documents be retrieved, stating they were necessary for determining the case's outcome. Following this, the court ordered the NTA to provide the documents by November 10.
