KATHMANDU, Dec 21: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Thursday filed a corruption case against three persons including a former Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) governor, on the charge of bribery while printing polymer bank notes at an Australian company.
In its charge sheet filed at the Special Court, the anti-graft body has claimed Rs 9,109,889 from each of those accused of involvement in the note printing scam. The others accused are then noted department chief Upendra Keshari Poudyal and local agent of the Australian company, Himalaya Bahadur Pande.
They are accused of bribing Note Printing Australia to print substandard notes and marking up the cost price in order to pocket the difference. According to the press statement issued by the anti-graft body, it was found during investigations that the bank officials had received a sample of the notes printed from the Australian firm before a final decision was made by the bank.
Case filed against ex-NRB gov over graft in polymer note tender
Also, the bank officials had circulated their official decision and a sample of notes provided by a German note printing company.
CIAA Spokesman Rameshwar Dangal said bank officials and the note printing company had exchanged several rounds of correspondence before finalizing the deal. Bank officials and local agents are accused of arranging a Bangkok junket for journalists covering banking affairs with the intent of preventing negative media coverage of the faulty note printing tender.
Sources privy to the investigations said the bank officials had increased the printing cost by four Australian dollars per 1,000 notes. Under the influence of the local agent four Australian dollars were added to what the two parties had agreed in the tender award.
As per the initial tender award both parties agreed to print 1,000 notes at the cost of 68 Australian dollars. CIAA officials believe bank officials and the local agent of printing company pocketed the difference.
The clandestine deal between the printing firm, the local agent and bank officials had incurred a huge loss to the central bank. NRB had awarded Note Printing Australia, an Australian Central Bank subsidiary, to print 100 million Rs 10 denomination notes in 2002.
The anti-graft body had taken up the issue shortly after the scam surfaced. But the case remained pending for years due to non-cooperation from the authorities concerned.
