KATHMANDU, March 12: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed corruption cases at the Special Court against 14 top officials of the Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF), including Executive Director Rajbabu Shrestha, for their involvement in embezzling funds amounting to Rs 27.86 million during fiscal years 2010-2011 and 2011-2012.
The anti-graft body moved the court against the PAF officials for causing huge losses to the state through embezzlement of the PAF funds.
According to a statement issued by the CIAA, Portfolio Managers Lal Bahadur Shiva, Dhanraj Shah, Ajaya Kumar Patel, Sanjaya Kumar Jha, Jayaraj Pant, Sandipnath Uprety, Akhilesh Chandra Das, Hareram Wagle and Durga Bahadur Gandhari, Accounts Officers Dilip Raj Joshi and Prabin Ghimire, Administrative and Finance chief Manoj Chipalu and Accounts Assistant Satish Kumar Chaudhary were found to have accumulated money by submitting forged bills for various programs that were never held.
The anti-graft body said that it filed corruption cases against the 14 accused as per Sec 8 (E) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 2002. "Those officials are involved in corruption through the submitting of fake bills and false records of programs that were never conducted," reads the statement.
The PAF officials are found to have acted against existing law and caused losses to the government, thus creating hurdles in achieving the goal of eradicating poverty, the CIAA said.
During investigations carried out by the CIAA, it was found that the portfolio managers breached the Operational Manual 2006 and the terms and conditions mentioned in the contract reached between them and the PAF. "The portfolio managers should have done at least 60 percent of their work in the field, but they are found to have submitted false records and statements without going to the field at all," the CIAA statement added.
The officials are found submitting fake bills of some hotels where there were no halls for organizing their programs. According to the CIAA, the PAF office-bearers didn't provide daily allowances to the participants of some programs they hosted even though the amount was duly allocated for the purpose. The investigations further revealed that the officials forged documents and received large amounts of money, causing huge arrears for the office. "The PAF officials also breached the existing financial laws," the CIAA said.
Filing the case, the CIAA has sought separate fines from the PAF office-bearers.
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