NRB issued a circular to this connection after anti-corruption watchdog -- Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), which is investigating the bribery scandal -- instructed the central bank to furnish all details regarding their bank accounts.[break]
The CIAA had initiated probe into Rs 10 polymer note printing scandal after the Sydney Morning Herald, last August, revealed that security printer Note Printing Australia (NPA) had paid significant amount to Nepali politicians and NRB officials to bag the note printing contract in 2002.
“Since Himal Pande was the authorized agent of the NPA for Nepal at that time, and our investigation shows that Prithivi Bahadur Pande was also involved in the project, we have decided to scan their bank accounts,” a high-ranking official of the CIAA told Republica, without elaborating.
Prithivi Bahadur Pande declined to comment on the issue.
The irregularity in the polymer notes printing deal signed almost 10 years ago surfaced last year after an Australian audit team that probed the NPA confirmed its agent had bribed officials in Nepal to win the note printing contract.
"Our evidence includes admissions by the agents that they used commission payments from NPA to bribe officials to secure the printing contracts from the central bank," the Australian newspaper quoted a senior central bank official as saying in August 2011.
It is said that Nepali politicians and NRB officials received a sum of Rs 5.22 million from the NPA, which is 4 percent of the contract amount of A$3 million (Rs 130 million according to 2002 exchange rates.
Investigations so far have shown that the central bank had also amended a provision in the NRB Act, which barred printing of notes on any other material than paper, to serve the interest of the Australian printer. On top of that Nepal´s central bank also paid 2.5 times more than what it was paying for printing paper notes.
The NRB, at that time, had defended its action, saying that life of polymer note was five times longer than paper notes. But the claim proved untrue as the color of the note started fading away and polymer strands started tearing within few months of coming into circulation in 2002.
As a result, in 2005, the central bank cancelled the agreement with the Australian printer and started recalling polymer notes from the market.
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