KATHMANDU, Sept 16: Following its two-month investigation, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has scrapped a tender awarded by Nepal Police to a private company for supplying nearly 57,000 parka jackets for police personnel. [break]
The commission concluded that there was irregularity while awarding the tender to the highest bidder, Ananda Traders Concern. CIAA also said nine senior police officers, including Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ramesh Chand Thakuri, are found guilty in awarding the tender.
CIAA also decided to ask clarifications from them as to why departmental actions cannot be taken against them. “We will decide the nature of punishments for them and recommend to the government accordingly after they furnish clarifications,” acting CIAA Chief Lalit Bahadur Limbu said.
Limbu said CIAA scrapped the tender as the awarding process was not made as per the Public Procurement Act-2063 and Public Procurement Regulations-2064. “Those involved in the process of awarding the tender have been found violating the existing law and abusing their power,” Limbu added.
CIAA has termed the arguments put forth by the police officers, who appeared before the commission for interrogation, as baseless and feeble.
The decision paper of CIAA stated: “Police officers failed to develop a procurement plan before awarding the tender as they were required to do so as per the Procurement Act. The Act says that one has to make such a plan to procure something that costs over Rs 100 million.”
It added that Police Headquarters awarded the deal to Ananda Trade Concern in haste in the pretext that the fiscal year was about to end. CIAA termed that reason as weak.
“Our investigation shows that the Police Headquarters issued a check of Rs 100 million simply in the pretext that the fiscal year was coming to a close before making a formal agreement with the bidder,” the CIAA decision stated.
CIAA has asked clarifications from IGP Thakuri, DIG Ramesh Bikram Shah, SSP Shyam Khadka, SP Manoj Neupane, DSP Ganesh Regmi, DSP Siddhi Bikram Shah, DSP Bajra Narayan Sharma, Inspector Sita Ram Chapagain and Inspector Shambhu Dhakal. CIAA said it will recommend departmental action if their clarifications are unsatisfactory.
CIAA further said it found fault in evaluation process of the bidders. Scrapping the past tender, the CIAA has also directed to re-call new tender as per the provisions of Procurement Act and Regulations.
The Police headquarters had awarded the tender to Ananda Trade Concern by ignoring the lowest bidder, New Siddha Deurali Traders. The company had proposed Rs 839 per piece, whereas ATC had proposed nearly Rs 1,100. The price of each jacket supplied by ATC inclusive of VAT comes to be around Rs 2,400.
CIAA had grilled IGP Thakuri over the matter some three weeks ago.
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